what Jesus the Light made known to him to be Gods will to obey him in And Jesus tells the Jews that if they were Abraham's Children they would do the works of Abraham that is yield obedience to God in what Jesus as a Light in them tells them the Truth is Gods will that they should obey him in And while men are out of this obedience let them be of what outward form of worshipping of God that they will and have never so high esteem of themselves and be as highly esteemed of by others as these Jews had yet they are Children of Wrath as well as others and so in that state as Children of Wrath they are cast out of the Kingdom of Heaven and are where their Father the Devil is Oh! but infinite infinite are the mercies of that unchangeable God as I have experienced who can say in some measure with Paul Ephes 2. who wherein in times past walked according to the course of this world according to the prince of the power of the air the spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience Among whom also we had our conversation in time past in the lust of our flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature the children of wrath even as others Mark Among whom that is amongst those that had walked according to the course of this world according to the power of the Prince of the Air which is the Devil that worketh in the Children of disobedience among these we had our conversation in times past fulfilling the desires of our flesh and of the mind and were by nature Children of wrath even as others Although the Ephesians as they were Gentiles might not be in an outward form of worshipping God in those outward things that God had required to be worshipped in yet Paul was and of the highest sort or form of them as elsewhere he speaks of himself And yet see how Paul put himself to be equal with them that had been in no outward form of Worship although he himself had been high in that outward form of worshipping of God in those outward things that God had required to be worshipped in yet when he was in that height of outward Worship he owned himself to be one that walked according to the course of the world and according to the power of the Prince of the Air which is the Devil the Spirit which worketh in the Children of disobedience Among whom we had also our conversation Paul with the Ephesians had their conversations in time past in the lust of their flesh fulfilling the desires of their flesh and mind and were by nature Children of Wrath even as others Mark they were not onely Children of Wrath by nature that is by the nature of the Serpent who is the Prince of the Air who is the Devil who is the Spirit that worketh in the Children of disobedience but they were the Children of Wrath even as others that is just even alike there was no difference between their being Children of Wrath by nature and others being Children of Wrath by nature There is the same nature of being Children of Wrath in those that are high in an outward form of worshipping God as was Paul who as to his outward life as to men lived blameless and those that were in no outward form of worshipping God as were the Gentiles while they both have their conversations in the lust of the flesh fulfilling the desires of the mind pleasing themselves in what they do if they be in an outward form of Worship they please content and satisfie themselves in that outward form of Worship and therein they are fulfilling the lust of the flesh and the desires of their minds in eating of the forbidden Fruit as do those that were in no outward form of worshipping God as were the Gentiles who fulfilled the lust of the flesh and the desires of their minds in outward pleasures And so both those that fulfil the lust of the flesh and desire of the mind in outward forms of Worship or in outward pleasure they are those that are not suffering Jesus's Word to have any place in them and so they are seeking to kill Jesus in themselves for telling them the truth that he had of God But God who is rich in mercy for the great love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in sins hath quickned us together with Christ by grace we are saved and have raised us up together and have made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus Mark they which having their Conversations in the lust of the flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and mind and thereby were by nature Children of Disobedience and so Children of Wrath Children of the Devil both those that were not in an outward form of worshipping of God as were these Gentiles the Ephesians and those that were in the highest of outward forms of worshipping of God as was Paul yet God who is rich in mercy can and does for his great love sake wherewith he loved them yea even when they are dead in sins quicken them together with Christ and so raise them up together as to make them sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus as you may see more to that purpose in the second Chapter of the Ephesians Jesus tells the woman of Samaria John 4. that the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father But the hour cometh and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth for the Father seeketh such to worship him God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth Jerusalem was the place that God had chosen to be worshipped in and so it represents the true outward form of worshipping God wherein God was worshipped according to his Command The Mountain of Samaria represents the false worshipping of God for although there might be something done there that God had required in his outward Worship to be done yet they mixing other things with it that God had not required to be done in his Worship and so it represents all false outward forms of Worship And Jesus tells the woman and would have her believe him mark that Jesus would have the woman belleve him that the hour cometh when neither in this mountain that is in the false outward forms of Worship nor at Jerusalem that is the true outward forms of Worship they should worship the Father But the hour cometh and now is mark that now is then at that time it was that the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth and that because the Father seeketh such to worship him God being a spirit they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth or else it is no worshipping of him where the Spirit and the Truth is wanting because whom God seeketh
to worship him they and they onely are the acceptable Worshippers of God and God seeketh for those and onely those to worship him that worship him in spirit and truth It is not the outward places nor the outward form no not at Jerusalem nor the outward Worship commanded to be used there that God seeketh for it is the spiritual Worship done in the truth and in the sincerity of the heart that God seeketh for it is that and that onely that is well-pleasing to him which the outward forms of worshipping is not although never so exactly performed according to the Command of God yet if the Spirit of God which leads and guides into all truth be wanting the outward form is not acceptable to God nor sought for of God nor desired of God And where the Spirit of God is and is the Guide and Leader of them in his Worship although the outward form be wanting yet these are the true Worshippers of God and these are those that God seeketh for to worship him that is those that worship him in his Spirit and in his Truth that is in Jesus and all those that so worship him in the use of outward forms or without the use of outward forms Of all Nations and Kinreds and People and Tongues that worship him in his Spirit and in his Truth in Jesus which saves from sin by which Spirit they are guided and led thereunto to do it in the truth and sincerity of their hearts these are such as God seeketh for to worship him and are acceptable to God And of these John beheld the great multitude that no man could number standing before the Throne and before the Lamb clothed with white Robes and Palms in their hands crying with a loud voice saying Salvation to our God which came out of great tribulations having washed their robes and made them white in the bloud of the Lamb. And John did but hear of a hundred forty and four thousand of all the Tribes of Israel to be sealed for the servants of God And those were they that were in the outward form of Worship which had the Commandments writ in Tables of stone and had the Law and the Prophets written in Books without them and read among them without them every Sabbath-day And had the Oracles of God committed to them and to whom pertain the adoption and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the law and the service of God and the promises Whose are the Fathers and of whom concerning the flesh Christ came And yet of all the Tribes of the outward Israel there was but a hundred forty four thousand sealed for the servants of God I take notice and so I desire the Reader to take notice that the Tribe of Dan was left out there was none sealed of that Tribe that was a Serpent by the way to be the servants of God none of the subtile Serpents Tribe are sealed to be the servants of God And that was the reason why there was no more sealed of all the outward Tribes of outward Israel the Serpents Tribe was not sealed and the Serpents Tribe is those wherein the Serpent and his seed rule in the heart These being left out and not sealed for the servants of God of the Tribes of Israel was the reason there was no more sealed and it is the reason that there is no more sealed of all the Tribes that are in the several outward forms of outward Worship and that is that which makes their number so small that a man may easily number a hundred forty and four thousand And of the Gentiles all Nations and Kinreds and People and Tongues that have not known the subtilty of the Serpent tempting man in the outward forms of worshipping of God and also of those that have known the subtilty of the Serpent tempting them in outward forms of worshipping of God and have known a saving and being delivered out of those temptations of the Serpent by the life of Jesus in them and so are none of the Serpents by the life of Jesus in them and so are none of the Serpents Tribe nor are sufficing themselves nor can suffice themselves in that they are worshipping God in outward forms but are worshipping him in his Spirit and in his Truth that is in Jesus that saves them from sin Of all these that is of those that have not known the subtilty of the Serpent tempting them in outward forms and those that have known the subtilty of the Serpent tempting them in outward forms and have known a being saved and delivered out of his temptations There are a great multitude that no man can number standing before the Throne and before the Lamb clothed with white robes and palms in their hands crying with a loud voice saying Salvation to our God having come out of great tribulations and washed their robes and made them white in the bloud of the Lamb. Thus Jesus is a Light and a Saviour to those that never hear of that Jesus born of the Virgin Mary And now to return again to those that have heard of that Jesus born of the Virgin Mary and profess themselves Christians and have known something of the working of Gods Spirit in them and have known something what it hath been to be drawn or led forth by the Spirit of Jesus in them how far they may go and yet not know the birth of the Child Jesus in them that saves from sin nor the woman that was deceived and in the transgression to be saved out of the transgression by bearing the Child Jesus Man may by Jesus the Light in him be convinced of sin that it is the breaking of Gods Command and of the Judgment of God that is due to man for sin and he may be so far convinced in himself of sin and of Gods judgment for sin as that he may be brought to a repentance and sorrow for his sins and a desire to be kept from sinning and he may pray earnestly that he may be kept from sin and may set upon a reformation and do many things in obedience to God that he knew to be the will of God And this may be done from some stirrings or movings of the Spirit of Jesus in him and yet the Serpent self his own will deceive him in all this as I have experienced And that thus man may from the knowledge that he hath of this or that thing that he does know that in the doing thereof he doth that which is a breaking of the Command of God and for his so breaking of the Command of God Jesus the Light in him that makes known to him the breaking of Gods Command doth likewise make known to him what is due to him for his transgressions that is Death Hell or Damnation which man being afraid of and willing to escape and to escape the punishment that he apprehends to be due to him for his sins this makes him to repent of his sins and
to be spiritually worshipped and he accepts of no other Worship but what is the Worship of his own Spirit in man done from a principle of love to God And whatsoever Worship man in his will sets up because he would escape the Justice and Judgments of God for his sins is no Worship acceptable to God And this I do know that when men are in this Worship set up in their own wills to escape the punishment of God for their sins they say in their hearts as Jeroboam said outwardly of his Calves Behold thy gods that brought thee out of Egypt Behold this Worship that I in my will have set up or taken up to keep me from the apprehensions of Gods Justice and Judgments to me it hath delivered me it hath brought me out from that slavery and bondage that I was in under the apprehensions of the making known of Gods wrath Gods Justice and Judgments to me for my sins And now they set up an Altar to these the Calves that they have made that is their own outward obedience done in their own wills for their own ends and upon this Altar they offer their Sacrifices they offer their outward performances of their outward religious duties or their outward service in the worship of their Calves in worshipping and bowing down to that outward form of Worship that in their wills they have set up thereby to escape Gods Justice and Judgments that they apprehend to be due to them for their sins And although for a time they may hereby patch up a peace to themselves yet it is no more lasting to them than Adam's Aprons made of Fig-leaves were lasting to him for as soon as he heard Gods voice walking in the garden although in the cool of the day he was afraid and hid himself And so it will be with them as soon as they hear the voice of God speaking in the garden in their hearts saying Adam where art thou Man where art thou Art thou worshipping me in my Spirit in my Truth in my Jesus that saves thee from sin and that not onely from the outward actions of sin but from the love and desire to sin Man where art thou art thou in this Worship or art thou in a Worship set up in thy own will to escape the punishment that is due to thee for thy sins and yet in thy heart thou love and delight in sin as much as ever thou didst Man where art thou And when this day comes as that it will certainly come then their outward form of Worship set up in their own wills for their own ends to escape the apprehensions of Gods Justice and Judgments to them for their sins will do them no more good than Adam's Aprons of Fig-leaves covered his nakedness and hid him from Gods Justice for his sin but they will be as open and lie as naked to the manifestations of Gods Justice and Judgments to them for their sins as if they had never had any outward form of Worship I having had experience how subtilly the Serpent works twisting and turning himself about in the heart of man the garden of God in man upon the Tree of knowledge and when he sees he cannot keep man from being in some outward form of Worship and thereby be kept from running into outward sins and evils as once he had done whereby the manifestations and making known of Gods Justice and Judgments seize so upon man for his sins as that man knew not how to bear it then the Serpent willingly let man in his will to set upon an outward form of Worship thereby to take off the fierceness of the manifestation and making known of Gods Justice and Judgments that he once lay under for sin And the subtile Serpent cares not what outward form of Worship it is that man in his will will set up to worship in so that he can but keep alive in him the love to those sins that he outwardly leaves and forsakes And because he is afraid of Gods Justice for the committing of those sins man may make the outside as clear as he will as did the Pharisees if the inside be but foul if the love do but still remain to the sins or to any one sin the Serpent rather than he will wholly lose his Kingdom he will content himself if he can but rule and raign in the inward love to sin although it be but to one dearly beloved sin I also knowing the readiness and the proneness that is in man to yield to the subtilty of the Serpent and for his own ends for his own preservation to be kept from being killed or slain by the Justice of God as it was with Jeroboam when he set up his Calves which he did for his own preservation to be kept from being killed 1 Kings 12. 27. Man to be preserved and kept from the Justice and Judgments of God for sin he sets up and sets upon an outward form of Worship and such an outward form of Worship as that he thinks that God will be best pleased in And in this Worship he sets up his Altar of outward self-obedience to God and upon this Altar he offers his Sacrifice of an outward observance and that very strictly too of all and every of those things that are outwardly required or desired in that outward form of Worship that in his will he sets or takes up And in this his offering of his Sacrifice of a strict and devout observing and fulfilling of all and every of those things that are outwardly required and desired in that outward form of Worship which in his will he sets up and upon the Altar set up by him of his outward self-obedience to God In this man satisfies pleases and contents himself as Jeroboam did with his Calves instead of the true Worship of God which is to worship him in his Spirit and in his Truth in his Jesus in that which saves from sin and that not onely from the outward actions of sin for fear of the punishment but this Worship of God that is done in Spirit and in his Truth in his Jesus in that which saves from sin there is in this Worship a knowing of a being saved from the love to sin as well as a being saved from the outward actions of sin I say I knowing and having experienced how man thus by the subtilty of the Serpent is ready to set up a Worship to himself as Jeroboam did instead of the true Worship of God and upon the Altar set up by himself of self-obedience to God and there upon that Altar to offer his Sacrifices of a strict and devout doing and performing of all and every the outward things that is required or desired in that outward form of Worship and thereby and therein to please satisfie and content themselves as if they were worshipping God in his Spirit and in his Truth in his Jesus that does not onely save from the outward acts of sin but saves
from the root of sin from the love to sin God caused me to cry out against this Altar of self-obedience to God and against the Sacrifices offered upon it to please satisfie and content themselves in a strict observing doing and performing of all and every the outward things required in the outward Worship that they did set up as Jeroboam did and neglected the true Worship of God and neglected the Worship of God in his Spirit and in his Truth and in that which doth not onely save from sin in the act but from sin in the love of it And in telling them the danger that would follow and befal such a Worship as I had experienced and if any of them had set up such a Worship not charging any particular person with so doing but declaring what I knew of the subtilty of the Serpent putting man upon so doing and the danger that they were in who were in such a Worship And where is there a Meeting that there is no such Worshippers in But that all and every person that belongs to the Meeting are such and onely such as are worshipping God in his Spirit and in his Truth in his Jesus that does not onely save them from the outward actions of sin but from the love and desire to sin And those that are not thus worshpping God in his Spirit and in his Truth in his Jesus in that which saves from sin and not onely saves from outward sins taken notice of by men to be sins but saves from the root of sin from the love to sin Let them be what they will be and think of themselves as highly as they will and be never so highly esteemed of by others yet I must once more tell them whatsoever outward Worship it is that they profess it is but a Worship that the subtile Serpent puts them upon and they are with Jeroboam making of Calves and saying in their hearts these be the gods that have saved thee from that bondage and slavery that once they were under by and for their outward sins and all that they are doing in that Worship is but an offering Sacrifice upon that Altar that they have set up of self-obedience to God I shall not say that upon my thus crying out against this Altar of self obedience to God and the Sacrifices offered thereon that King Jeroboam put out his hand and said Lay hold on him but this I can say that he that looked upon himself as the chief man in the Meeting and was so esteemed of by others he often when I was speaking to the purposes aforesaid would rise up and go out of the Meeting and the rest of the Meeting would follow him I shall not say that he had done as Jeroboam did make Calves for his own safety to preserve his life and was offering Sacrifice upon the Altar of Self-obedience and therefore with Jeroboam could not indure to hear his Altar to be cry'd out against but the Tree is known by its fruit Some others although they followed his example of going out of the Meeting yet they shew something more of the following of Christs Command than he did and they would come sometimes and speak to me about my speaking which I always gave them mild and very gentle answers as I know none of them dare say to the contrary and although they had nothing to say against what I spoke but that my words were true nor had they any thing against my Life and Conversation they could not deny but that I lived as blameless as any of them But the great thing they had to say against my speaking was because my words did not reach the witness of God in them or the seed of God in them as they called it but when I spake there was something in them that was troubled and burdened and therefore they put out their hands to lay hold on me dâ—siring me to speak no more And by what spirit it was that they spake thus to me I have here already declared in declaring in what spirit it was that Peter rebuked Jesus in for speaking what was true and how Jesus words were a trouble and a burden to a will that opposed Gods will in Peter and the rest of the Twelve and so shall say no more of it now From this great disturbance my speaking to the aforesaid purposes had made to that will in them that could not endure to hear true words spoken in declaring and making known the subtilty of the Serpent how he kept up his Kingdom in man in and under an outward form of godliness of being like God when he disobeys God in that he does not worship him in his spirit and in his truth in his Jesus as he perswaded man at first and thereby caused him to fall telling him by disobeying God he should be as Gods This did so disturb burden and trouble that will in them that when there came any to the Meeting that day that they were willing to hear them speak words that many times if I did while such were there when none was either speaking or praying yet if I began to speak a few words then one or other of them would either stand up and fall a speaking or fall down upon their knees and pray or else go out of the Meeting and so break up the Meeting and so they put out their hands against me saying Lay hold on him Yet amongst all these that did put forth their hands against me there was never any one of them that would begin a discourse with me concerning my speaking no not one of them and yet I constantly when the Meeting was ended followed them to the aforesaid chief mans house whither they constantly went and there stayed till they went from thence if they went from thence that night I saw their going away and if they stayed there all night then I stayed there until they were about going to supper And sometimes I would begin the discourse with them to know why they dealt so by me but I received very pitiful answers from them sometimes they would say they thought I had done speaking because I did not follow on to speak so fast as some do and sometimes I had this answer that if any thing be revealed to another that sitteth by the first was to hold his peace and therefore when they began to speak I was to hold my peace indeed I did so because I would beget no disturbance but that is not the meaning of the Scripture but the meaning of the Scripture is quite contrary for if any thing be revealed to one that sitteth by the first is to hold his peace before he that had any thing revealed to him was to begin to speak or else how could they all Prophecy one by one and it was the practice of the Apostles as you may read Acts 15. And it is the constant practice amongst them that the one leaves speaking before the other begins but so
me But so it hath pleased the infinite wise God to leave their failings weaknesses infirmities or miscarriages and not onely theirs but others of his faithful Servants in writing and now in print not to the end to be as Examples for us to follow but to be as Warnings for us to have a care that we by the subtilty of the Serpent do not fall as they did for they and we stand and are saved by all one and the same Faith in the same Jesus and what is written is written for our Instruction and Learning And I know that the same Spirit that will blame me for making so publick the dealings of Friends by me will also blame me for medling with the failings weaknesses infirmities or miscarriages of the Twelve as it did in some Friends for speaking of the failings of Job who although perfect and upright and how patiently he bore what God suffered Satan to afflict him with yet his patience did not always continue the same for if it had he would never have cursed the day of his birth c. I made but use of this in my speaking in the Meeting to shew what great need we all had to stand upon our watch lest at any time we be overcome by the subtilty of the Adversary and this gave such an offence that I was by two counted no small Friends at two several times rebuked for mentioning Job's failings And therefore I expect no other but by the same Spirit I shall be sentenced and judged for my making so publick the dealings of those called Friends or Quakers to me or rather to that which was of Jesus in me but if they do I know by what Spirit it is that they so judge and censure me That it is not by the spirit of God for the example of the spirit of God I follow it is the example of God by his spirit in Matthew and Luke to make publick in writing the dealings of the Twelve by Jesus It is the example of God by his spirit in Paul to make publick in writing Peter's not walking uprightly according to the truth of the Gospel but dissembled It is the example of God by his spirit in the holy men of old that gave forth the Scriptures to make publick in writing the failings of the best of his Servants as of Noah Abraham Lot Moses David Job and others And therefore I shall conclude with the words of Jesus Mat. 10. 24 25. The disciple is not above his master nor the servant above his lord It is enough for the disciple that he is as his master and the servant as his lord if they have called the master of the house Beelzebub how much more shall they call them of the houshold I have forborn the mentioning of any Name or Names and so I shall unless I hear what I have written be contradicted or the truth of it questioned and then I may not onely name the Names of the Persons but the Places where they either spake or did what I have herein mentioned READER WHosoever thou art that shall read what I have writ if upon the reading of what I have writ of the dealings of some of those called Quakers to me thou shalt therefore judge or think the worse of the Truth those called Quakers own and believe in that is of the true Light in them which Light is Jesus that came to save his People from their sins and that Jesus who is the true Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the World it is onely he and there is none other that can save any one from their sins and the way that they own that God is to be worshipped in by this Jesus the true Light in them is to worship him in his Spirit and Truth That evil Spirit that would lead thee or cause thee upon the reading of what I have writ to judge or think the worse of the Truth owned and believed by those called Quakers and of the way owned and believed by them that God is to be worshipped in because of the dealings of some of them to me the same evil Spirit upon the same ground may lead thee or cause thee to judge or think the worse of Jesus and of the way that he declared that God the Father was to be worshipped in and that because of the dealings of the Twelve by him as I have in what I have writ mentioned of their dealings by Jesus as that they did not believe all that he said to be true nor did they always understand the truth spoken by him but by Peter he was rebuked for speaking the truth and all of them did contradict him in his speaking the truth saying to him That should not be done to him and that by them that he had said should be done to him and that by them as when he told them they should be all offended because of him that night and so offended as to be scattered and forsake him and as he said they should therein deal by him so they did deal by him although they had all said they would not deal so by him And moreover there was one of the Twelve that for the love he had to money betrayed him and sold him to them that he knew sought for him to take away his life Thus much you may read in the Scriptures of the dealings of the Twelve by Jesus And therefore I do say that the same evil Spirit that would have thee to judge or think the worse of the Truth that is owned and believed by those called Quakers of their worshipping God in Spirit and Truth because of what I have writ that some of them have done to me The same evil Spirit upon the same ground may cause thee to judge and think the worse of Jesus and of the truth that Jesus preached because of what the Twelve did to him that thou mayest read written in the Scriptures God knows and bears me witness that why I make mention of their dealings to me is to do what I believed I ought to do thereby to make known what knowledge and acquaintance man may have of Jesus in the flesh and yet not know Jesus in his Death and Resurrection as the Twelve who had the most knowledge of him and acquaintance with him in the flesh and were sent by him to preach and cast out Devils and yet knew him not in his Death and Resurrection And therefore man may go a great way in an outward form of Worship and in an outward following of Jesus and yet not come fully to know what it is to deny himself daily and take up his Cross to all self and be a Follower of Jesus in the Spirit As the Twelve although they followed him in the flesh and so had the most acquaintance with him yet they had not in that time of their knowing of him and following of him in the flesh so fully learned that Lesson of self-denial and taking up of the daily Cross to their own wills as they learned it when they knew his Death and Resurrection in themselves and followed him in the Spirit And as Paul said They knew no man after the flesh yea though we have known Christ after the flesh yet now henceforth know we him no more Oh how subtilly the Serpent self in man can and does act in an outward form of worshipping God tempting man in that knowledge and understanding that he hath of God to eat of the forbidden Tree that he might thereby be as Gods I do therefore beseech the Readers to have a great care that they be not deceived by the Serpents subtilty therein as I do know he hath formerly deceived me And also I do beseech them not to answer the desires of the subtile Serpent or Tempter in them as to judge or think the worse of the Truth the true Light in man or of those called Quakers because of some ill dealings done by some of them to Henry Abbut FINIS
God would not have him to know And when man in the understanding and knowing part thus beheld what God had forbidden and the desire of the mind is let out after it then the will joyns with the desire of the mind and as a hand takes of the forbidden fruit and eats thereof that is does what God hath forbidden him to do this was the case of the woman and this is the state and condition of man at this day The understanding and knowing part in man is that which knew this is good and this man ought to do and that is evil and that man ought not to do This was in the woman she knew that it was good to eat of the Trees of the Garden and that she ought to do it and that it was an evil to eat of the Tree in the midst of the Garden and that she ought not to do Man's knowing of what was good and what was evil was the Tree and it was in man and was not forbidden to be in man and so it was no sin but to eat of it was forbidden The doing of what God hath forbidden man to do was and is the sin but the knowing of what God hath forbidden man to do was no sin nor is no sin And although the woman thus understood and knew and the knowledge did not depart from her for when she had sinned her eyes were open and she saw her self naked that is that she saw that she had done what she ought not to do Jesus was the Light in her that gave her this understanding and knowledge as he is the Light in all men and gives them the understanding and knowledge to know this is good and this they ought to do and that is evil and that they ought not to do And this as a Tree remains still in all men But this understanding and knowledge cannot properly be said to be Jesus the Light but it is a gift of God in this Jesus the Light given to man as he is the true Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world As a Candle that lighteth the house and may be said to light all the house or all in the house so Jesus the true Light is in man and lighteth man And yet the Light the understanding and knowledge that man hath from this Light is as the light in the house is from the Candle being in the house so is that Light that man hath whereby he knows this is good and this he ought to do and that is evil and that he ought not to do This Light came from Jesus the true Light in man and this Light does not depart from man but after man hath departed from his obeying of it this Light remains in man shewing him his disobedience And although this Light continued in the woman as a measure of it is in all men and the woman knew that to obey God was good and to disobey God was evil yet although she thus understood and knew she in the wrong use of this understanding and knowledge saw a good for food in the Tree that God had forbidden to be eaten of and that good for food was that she apprehended that in the enjoyment of what God had forbidden her to enjoy she should have full content and satisfaction as being wise as Gods like as the natural body is fully contented and satisfied with natural food And this was pleasing to that eye that so beheld it God did not give the gift of his Son Jesus to be a Light in man to that end that Gods gift to man of his Son Jesus the true Light which did and doth enlighten every man that cometh into the world was that man should improve this gift in obedience to him This was the end of Gods giving this gift as a Portion to man but man as a prodigal son mis-spent his Portion and made use of it in disobedience to God As a man that gives his son a Portion to the end that he should improve it and in the use of it live to the honour of the Father that gave him it but the son mis-spends the Portion in evil courses as did the prodigal to the dishonour of the Father that gave it him So was Gods gift to man of his Son Jesus the Light given to man to that end that man in the light that he received from the true Light Jesus in him and thereby come to that understanding and knowledge of what was good that man ought to do and in the understanding and knowing what was evil that man ought not to do that so man in this understanding and knowledge should have honoured God as a Father in his obedience in doing those things that God hath made known to him and in him to be his will that he should obey him in But man like a prodigal son dishonoured God his Father in and with that portion of understanding and knowledge that God had given to him in and by his disobedience That understanding and knowing part in man that saw and beheld a good for food and thereby to be made wise as Gods and a pleasantness to the eye in the Tree that God had forbidden to be eaten of that caused the desire of the mind after it and the desire of the mind puts forward the will to take and eat thereof And these three are all but one and make up that body or being it self they are not to be separated but onely as they are known by their several workings and actions and make up but that one body self in man He that will be true to himself and to the Light of God in him he may by experience find the truth of it in himself how they are one and agree in one for no sooner doth the eye of the understanding and knowing part in man behold what God hath forbidden to be good for food to make them wise as Gods and pleasant to the eye but the desire of the mind is let out after it and the will joyns therewith and as an hand takes it and so it is eaten that is the sin is committed in the heart or inward part of man although perhaps there may never be an outward appearance thereof as to the view or knowledge of others and if it be outwardly known the outward manifestation thereof may be done at several distances of time as opportunity serves But within in the heart or inward part of man it is all done at once and God looks on it as the eating of the forbidden Fruit when that the eye of the understanding and knowing part in man beheld it as good for food and thereby to be made wise as Gods and pleasing to it and the desire of the mind is let out after it and the will joyns with the desire and so it becomes a sin in Gods sight although there never be the least appearance of it without And this is according to what Christ said Mat. 5. 27
question or doubt wholly of the truth of the Command of God yet there is a yielding so far to the temptation as to question whether or no that God is so strict or severe in his Command as the Light of God at first makes known in man that he is And then there is a belief got up in man that he shall not surely die that is as God was not so strict or severe in his Commands so God will not be so strict or severe in his punishments And thus the Tempter perswades man out of his obedience that he had to God which was in the believing the truth of what God had said into disobedience to God in the believing the lye the Tempter said And when the Tempter had prevailed thus far with man as to question the truth of what God had said and brought man to believe that God had not said true in saying they should surely die but perswaded man that Ye shall not surely die Then he proceeds further in his temptation and perswades man to a belief that God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as Gods knowing good and evil The Tempter perswades man not onely to believe that God had said a lye when he said in the day he eat thereof he should surely die to die is to cease to be as man is said to die when he ceaseth to be alive but the temptation perswades man to believe that God knew that he lied when he said man shall surely die in the day he eat of the forbidden Tree And this the Tempter did in perswading man to believe that God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as Gods that is as much as to say that God did know that man should be so far from dying that is from ceasing to be that he should have a more higher or greater Being than the Being he had before the Tempter entered into him for the Being man had before the temptation entered into him was but the Being of a Creature but by yielding to the temptation the Tempter perswades him to believe that he should have a Being as God ye shall be as Gods and so he perswades man to a belief that God did not onely lye when he spake the truth in saying man shall surely die in the day he eat of the forbidden Tree but that God did know he lyed when indeed the truth of it was that all that God spake was that which was surely true as God is the truth But the Tempter by his lying perswades man to believe that God was such a one as the Tempter was that he was a lyar and knew himself to be a lyar when God had said nothing but the truth and the Tempter had said nothing that was true and that it was all lyes that he had said that is that in and by his deceit he intended to deceive man in all that he said to man John 8. 44. He was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth because there is no truth in him When he speaketh a lye he speaketh of his own for he is a lyar and the father of it The Devil the Tempter is the Father the begetter of lyes and is he that abode not in the truth where once he was And when the Tempter had prevailed thus far with man to cause him to believe that God had not spoken true and that God knew that he had not spoken true then he perswades man into a belief of the great profit gain and benefit that man should have in the believing the Tempter the Serpent in his lyes and in yielding to his temptation in his eating of the forbidden Tree in his disobedience to God and that God did know that in the day ye eat thereof he perswaded man that God knew that all was to be as the Tempter the Serpent said to man it should be that their eyes should be opened that the understanding and knowing part in man should see and know that they should be as Gods knowing good and evil How did God know good and evil that man should be as Gods knowing good and evil and that he should be so by eating of the Tree God had forbidden to be eaten of by doing that which God had forbidden man to do Doth any one believe or think that God knew evil in doing contrary to his own declared will If they do so believe or think I believe they will not so speak but be like the fool that says in his heart there is no God in his heart he speaks it and in his heart he believes that God is not in his heart But God did know good and evil God did know his declared will to man to be good and God willed this declared will of himself and of himself he willed this declared will of his to be done there was no mover no stirer no drawer to move stir or draw God to his will or to the knowledge of his will to be good nor to will his will to be done there was no mover no stirer no drawer to move stir or draw God to do his declared will in man and so to bring up mans will into his will and to cause mans will to be resigned up into the doing of Gods will And in all this God knew good and in Gods knowing of good he was absolute in himself there was nothing that could help him or move stir or draw him thereunto and thus God was in knowing of good God knew what was evil God knew that the doing of what he had forbidden to be done was evil God new that it was evil because he had forbidden it and thus God knew evil as it was evil but God did not know evil in the action in the doing of what he had forbidden to be done The Serpent by his temptation perswaded man to believe that he should be as God to know good and evil as God knew good and evil so man should know good and evil God knew his declared will to man to be good of himself God had none to give him the knowledge thereof And so the Tempter perswaded man that he should know the will of God as God knew it as God of himself and not as a Creature to have his knowledge thereof from another And God willed his declared will of himself and so the Tempter perswaded man that he should be as God to will Gods declared will of himself and not as a Creature to have his will brought to will Gods will by the motion stirring drawings or the work of another in him And God of himself he willed his declared will of his to be done and so the Tempter he perswaded man that he should be as God and not as a Creature and that of himself he should will Gods declared will to be done God had none that moved stirred and drew
God in true self-denial in being as a nothing in thy self until God send his spirit that quiet into all truth to guide to search to let thee understand something of the great mystery that is in these few words Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil thou wouldst then find that those few words have been much read without and very little understood by the outward Readers within they have read little of them within themselves The forbidden fruit as it was presented in the temptation it was pleasant to the eye and to be desired to make wise the knowing of Gods will and not to do Gods will is the forbidden fruit What God requires of man to obey him in and what man knows to be Gods will that he should obey him in is good but to know Gods will and not to do it is evil that is the knowing of good and evil in the action which is sin To know is very pleasant to the eye because it makes wise and how much is there a desire in man going forth after knowledge that they may be wise because Wisdom is one part of the Essence or Being of God and it is to be like God and so man in the temptation had a desire to be like God as being wise And thus man desired to know more of God than he desired in that knowledge to yield obedience to God in what he knew of God And this is the forbidden fruit to have a desire to be wise like God to know God or the mind and will of God and not to obey God according to what he knew to be Gods will this was Adams fall this was the forbidden fruit which man was not to eat of nor yet to touch it And now man is fallen who can say upon a true examination of himself in the inward parts that he is now judged or condemned for the doing of any thing but for the doing of those things that God hath made known to him that he ought not to do or else he is judged and condemned for the not doing of those things that God hath made known to him to be his will that he ought to do and should do the condemnation is either for doing what we know we ought not to do or for leaving undone what we know that we should do The woman mystically being the figure of mans being drawn by the spirit or the goings or leadings forth of man by the spirit of Jesus in man for as the Lord God took the woman out of Adam so is mans being drawn by the spirit or the goings or leadings forth of man by the spirit of Jesus in man is the work of the Lord God and they are given as Help-meets for the life of Jesus in man that is as Help-meets for that life of Jesus in man that is in him saving of him from sin And as the woman as she was taken out of Adam although she was bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh yet she had a distinct and separated body from Adam so in the mystery is to be understood mans being drawn by the spirit of Jesus or the goings or leadings forth of the spirit of Jesus in man although taken out of Jesus in man as the woman was taken out of man to be distinct and separated from Jesus in man and serve for the end the woman was created for to be as an Help-meet for man so man by these drawings of the spirit or the goings or leadings forth of man by the spirit of Jesus in man are as Help-meets for the life of Jesus in man How is the life of Jesus in man refreshed and comforted when there is in man a drawing going or leading forth of the spirit to meditate of Gods goodness or to meditate of some mystery that God is making known to the Soul either what God is or what he hath made man to be or what man was before the fall or what man made himself by the fall or what God hath made man by his redeeming of him or what man shall be in the resurrection or sometimes in praying or speaking or some sudden Vision or breakings out of the manifestations of Gods love in these or other of the drawings leadings or goings forth of man by the Spirit of Jesus in man How is the Life of Jesus in man helped and refreshed that is that Life of Jesus in man that is in him saving of him from sin So as the woman was created to be an Help-meet for Adam so hath God made man by these drawings leadings or goings forth of man by the Spirit of Jesus in man as Help-meets for the Life of Jesus in man as he is in man a saving him from sin Now as I said before as the woman although taken out of Adam and was bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh yet she had a distinct and separate body of her self So in the mystery although man by these drawings of the Spirit or goings or leadings forth of man by the Spirit they come from Jesus and are taken out of Jesus in man yet in the mystery they are to be looked upon as a distinct and separate body from Jesus in man as the woman was a distinct and separate body from man Now the Serpents self or a mans own will as separated from God as it is in the fall and so is become a fallen Angel or Spirit and being in the garden of God that is in the heart or inward part of man this presents to the woman that is to man as being drawn of the Spirit or his goings or being led forth by the Spirit of Jesus in man a desire more to know the things of God than to come into the obedience of what God hath by those drawings leadings or goings forth of the Spirit made known to them to obey him in and this is the forbidden Fruit for man to desire to know more of God in those manifestations or enjoyments that he hath received from God by the drawings leadings or goings forth of his Spirit in them than to obey God in what he knew of God or that God doth make known to him of himself in those manifestations or enjoyments that he gives of himself unto man And this desire after knowledge this Serpents self or a mans own will in the fall presents to be very pleasant to the eye of the woman and to be desired to be made wise and by it to be as Gods But these presentations to the woman is to be taken as if man in these drawings goings or leadings forth of the Spirit were distinct and separate from Jesus as the woman was from the man And that is onely to be taken as to that sense or knowledge that the Soul wherein these drawings or goings forth of the Spirit are acted hath of them that is as the Soul or inward part of man does look upon the drawings
another seed of the Woman and not that seed which knew the will of Man and condescended and joyned with Mans will in the transgression but it is a seed in man that never knew man that is the will of man by joyning with it or condescending to mans will in his disobedience but it ever did and doth oppose the will of man in his disobedience it is a Virgins seed that knew no man And this is as great a mystery to the Wisdom of this World as it was that an outward Virgin that never knew an outward man should bring forth a Son The woman that this Virgins seed shall save is that in man that was lost by the transgression Take notice of this before man transgressed he was drawn and went forth in the doing what he did by the spirit of God in him I hope none will deny that God breathed into him the breath of life and he became a living Soul man being thus made alive he was by the drawings of the spirit or the goings or leadings of the spirit of Jesus in him carried out by a principle of love to yield an obedience to God and in and by his transgression he died that is man as to his being drawn going or being led forth by the spirit of Jesus in him in obedience to God in that love that he had to God In the transgression that obedience that he had to God died which he was in before the transgression and drawn led or went forth in that obedience by the spirit of Jesus in him that obedience died that is it died as to mans part as to mans obeying of God and so man was lost as to his love and obedience to God and the woman being saved is the restoring of this love and obedience again in man to God which is done in the Virgins seed in the womans bearing the Child Jesus the Son of God God in us who came to seek and to save that which was lost What is now required of the woman to continue in to be saved in child-bearing that is she is to continue in faith charity holiness and sobriety these all were in Adam before the fall and so man may be said to die in the day that he eat of the forbidden fruit There was faith in Adam before he fell Adam before he fell he believed all that God had said to him to be true and he obeyed God in all that he had commanded him to do and he confessed the truth of what God had spoken to him and of his obedience to God in and by the woman It was the woman that said We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden but of the fruit of the tree in the midst of the garden God hath said ye shall not eat of it neither shall ye touch it lest ye die and this was spoken by the man in the woman as being led or guided by the spirit of Jesus in him to give this answer to the Serpent I pray mark God did make known his Commandment to the man before the woman had a being that is before she had a body separated from mans body man makes no acknowledgement of what God had commanded him to do or of his faith in believing the truth of what God had commanded or of his obedience to God but as he did it in and by the woman it was the woman that acknowledged the Command and their believing of it and their obedience to the Command the acknowledgement of their faith and obedience it was in this that she declared what God had commanded them to do and what he had commanded them not to do and the penalty if they transgressed and then they had not broken Gods Command The Serpent never set upon man to tempt him before he had a woman given to him as an Help-meet but after he had a woman given to him to be an Help-meet for him then he set upon him to tempt him in and by the woman read it in the mystery who can I hope none will own themselves to be so ignorant as to say they believe the Serpent did not tempt the man because the Scripture speaketh of the Woman and the Serpent to have all the discourse in the temptations but yet the Scripture saith that she took of the fruit thereof and did eat and gave also to her husband with her and he did eat and gave also to her husband with her and he did eat that is at the very same time and instant that the woman eat the husband eat also with her they eat together by which it is clear that the temptation was the same in the husband that it was in the woman but God is pleased to set it forth to be the woman that was tempted the more to make known the mystery of the creating of man and of mans fall and given it the name that the woman was deceived and in the transgression notwithstanding she shall be saved in Child-bearing And as Faith was in Adam before the fall so Charity was in Adam before the fall the height of love was in Adam before he fell there was no love in the heart of man to any creature before the fall mans heart was filled as I may so say with love to God the love of the Creation nor of any Creature was not entred into mans heart before the fall no not to Eve but onely as God had made her an Help-meet for man but he knew her not till after the fall and Holiness was in Adam before the fall as he was made in the Image of God and Sobriety was in man before the fall man had no high thoughts or esteem of himself While man stood stedfast in his faith believing the truth of what God had spoken and his love remained unchangeable and his holiness unblemished and his sobriety unmoved mans heart was like a pleasant and delightful Garden and while mans heart was thus as a garden and all that man did was done by mans being drawn or led or going forth thereunto by the spirit of Jesus in him for who dare say that man before his being tempted did any thing that was not the work of God in him and man in the garden and in his being led drawn or going forth by the spirit of Jesus in him subtilly gets into him and perswades him in the time of his being drawn led or going forth by the spirit of God or Jesus first to question the truth of what God had said and then to a desire to be as Gods Man was in the Image of God before the temptation as God made him and so in that Image he was led or drawn or went forth to do whatsoever he did by the spirit of God in him But subtilly the temptation caused a desire in him to be as Gods and not to be contented to be led drawn or guided by another as he was in that state that God had made him in but
to have believed this notorious lye of his if he had not continued in his temptation twisting winding and turning himself about the Tree of knowledge in man and in that causing him in the woman first to question the truth of what God had said that he should not eat of every Tree of the garden Before the Serpent could perswade him into a belief by the woman that they should not surely die if they did eat of the fruit that God had forbidden them to eat of and not onely so but perswaded him to a belief that God knew that in the day they eat thereof their eyes should be opened and they should be as gods knowing good and evil I say can any one believe that the Serpent could perswade man that he should not surely die in the day that he eat of the fruit of the Tree of knowledge of good and evil if he had not first prevailed with man in the first part of the temptation to question or doubt whether or no it were true that God had said that they should not eat of every Tree of the garden And thus when the Serpent had prevailed with man to bring him to doubt or question the truth of what God had said and to believe the lye that the Serpent had said when the temptation had prevailed to this then man in the woman saw that the Tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eye and to be desired to make wise then by the woman man took of the fruit thereof and did eat And thus the desire of the will got to be uppermost in man after the forbidden fruit Man then did not obey God according to that knowledge that he had of God but had a greater desire after the fruit of the Tree of knowledge than he had after the fruit of the Tree of life which fruit was obedience which for a time he had eaten and lived in but when the desire was carried out after knowledge to eat of that fruit and live of that then man died in his life of obedience then man died in that very day of the week that he eat of the forbidden fruit he then died so as he ceased to obey God in what he knew of God And then he eat he filled and satisfied himself with knowledge and desired knowledge more than obedience to God in what he knew of God And although knowledge while obedience was joyned with it was a good Tree yet when man did not continue yielding obedience to God in what he knew of God then knowledge it became an evil Tree and brought forth the evil fruit of disobedience which was forbidden which man was not to eat of nor to touch it for in the day he eat of it he was surely to die and did die in the day of the week that he eat of the fruit of the Tree of knowledge of good and evil but not a death of the body that lived hundreds of years after his eating of the forbidden fruit Jesus was the true Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world John 1. 8. and so he was in man as made in the Image of God he was the true Light that gave him the true knowledge of God what was Gods will that he should do and what was Gods will that he should not do And so knowledge as a Tree was in man when man was in the Image of God and while man yielded obedience to God according to the knowledge that he had of God it was a Tree of knowledge of good but when man had the knowledge of what was the will of God and did not obey God in that knowledge then that knowledge that was good in man became evil And so the Tree of knowledge of good became a Tree of the knowledge of actual evil and brought forth the fruit of disobedience which was sin which man was not to eat of nor touch man then knew evil by doing of evil which before he onely knew evil as it was what God had forbidden to be done and in that knowledge of evil was no sin committed no Command of God broken in the knowledge of that to be evil that God had forbidden to be eaten of And if any should think it not to be true that the Serpent should set upon man to tempt him when he was in that glorious state of his heart being filled with Gods love and his love to God and upon God onely and he in that state of love to do all that he did by the Spirit of God drawing leading or carrying him forth to do what he did and then in that time when he was eating of the fruit of the Tree of life in him for the Serpent to set upon him as he did to tempt him not to be contented with that state that God had made him in his Image but have a desire to be as gods I desire them that question the truth of it to consider Christs temptations and when the Devil set upon him to tempt him and read it in Matthew Mark and Luke and you shall find it to be at that time when he had fulfilled all righteousness and was full of the Holy Ghost and had that manifestation by a voice from Heaven that he was Gods beloved Son in whom he was well pleased And then immediately the Devil set upon him to tempt him and what was he tempted to He was tempted not to be contented with that condition that he was then in as being an hungry he was tempted not to be contented with it but to make use of a means that God had not appointed to satisfie his hunger And the like may be observed in the other temptations And although there was a declaration from Heaven that he was Gods beloved son and that God was well pleased with him yet the Devil tempts him twice with a doubt or question whether he were the son of God in these words If thou be the son of God command these stones to be made bread And if thou be the son of God cast thy self down And the Devil brings Scripture if I may so say to prove that he might yield to him in his temptation in casting himself down For it is written he shall give his angels charge concerning thee and in their hands they shall bear thee up lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone Both these temptations were that by his yielding to them he might have or manifest a further or another manifestation or making known of himself to be the son of God than that manifestation or making known of him to be the son of God that the Father had given of him from Heaven But Christ did not yield to any of the temptations man at first resisted the temptation of the Serpent and did not yield to it yet man did not as Christ did continue resisting the temptation and so he was prevailed with and overcome and eat of the forbidden fruit
a desire to be as gods And thus man although he had before his fall Faith Charity Holiness and Sobriety yet he not continuing in them was the cause of the fall and the woman that is saved in Child-bearing must not onely have Faith Charity Holiness and Sobriety as Adam had before his fall but must continue in them so that the saving of the woman is not onely a restoring of that again in man that was lost but a preserving man in that state that he was in before the fall which onely can be done by the power of that Jesus in her that the Devil could not prevail with in his temptations It is the bringing forth of that Child Jesus in man now that is the onely begotten son of God that must keep and preserve man that he is not prevailed with and overcome by the subtile Serpents temptations as Adam was I know there may be much wrought in man and yet the Child Jesus not born nor the woman saved out of the transgression But first to speak something of Jesus as he is the Light to all and a Saviour to some that never heard of Jesus born of the Virgin Mary and crucified by the Jews Christ Jesus as he is the Light John 1. 9 10 11 12 13. so he is the true Light that lightneth every man that comes into the world And so Jesus that saves from sin is in all that cometh into the world that was made by him but they knew him not And when he came to his own his own they received him not But as many as received him to them he gave power to become the sons of God even to them that believed on his Name Which were born not of bloud nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God John 3. 16. God so loved the world that he gave his onely begotten son that whosoever believed in him should not perish but have eternal life Jesus the onely begotten son of God as he is the Light so he is given of God to all the world to save them to keep them from perishing and to give them eternal light if they will receive him and believe in him He is a Light in all and to all that have not heard of him by that name of Jesus as born of the Virgin Mary and crucified at Jerusalem and yet have heard of him and knew him that is as there is something that is in them that tells them that there is a God or a power above them and this God or power above them ought to be pleased served or obeyed and that as they please serve or obey this God or power that is above them so it will be well or ill with them when this life is ended And so as they yield an obedience to what they thus know of God that God hath made known to them and in them for it is Christ the true Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world that makes this known in them so they are accepted of God or else condemned in themselves for not yielding obedience to what they know of God their Consciences bearing them witness accusing or excusing them See the truth of this in Romans the first Chapter the 14th verse to the end of the Chapter And the second Chapter the 11th verse to the end And the third Chapter the ninth verse to the end And the ninth Chapter the 25th verse to the end And the 10th Chapter the fifth verse to the end of the Chapter I read in Revel 7. that John heard the number of them that were sealed for the servants of God a hundred forty and four thousand of all the Tribes of the children of Israel of each Tribe twelve thousand Dan who Jacob told should be as a Serpent by the way when he told his sons what should befal them in the last days Gen. 49. 17. There was none sealed of his Tribe but instead of him Manasses is put in a son of Joseph mark that there is none of the Serpents Tribe to be sealed although Dan's Tribe were in the outward Worship of God as were the other Tribes And of the other Tribes but twelve thousand of a Tribe sealed In all but an hundred forty and four thousand which is the number sealed to be the servants of God of those who had the Commandments written in Tables of stones without them and the Law and the Prophets written in Books without them These are they that worship God in outward forms of Worship the number of them that were sealed that were the servants of God is easily to be numbered being one hundred forty and four thousand which is but a very small number to what a man can number And these were all that John heard the number of that were in the outward form of worshipping of God that were sealed to be the servants of God unto whom were committed the Oracles of God Rom. 3. 2. And to whom pertaineth the adoption and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the service of God and the promises whose are the Fathers and of whom concerning the flesh Christ came Rom. 9. 4 5. What can all these in the several forms of the worshipping of God say that they have more and yet of all these there is but twelve thousand of a Tribe sealed may I say of an outward form of worship in all but an hundred forty and four thousand that were the servants of God a very small number in comparison of what a man can number and these John did but hear of to be sealed for the Servants of God mark that After this John beheld and lo a great multitude which no man could number of all Nations Kinreds and People and Tongues stood before the Throne and before the Lamb cloathed with white Robes and Palms in their hands and cryed with a loud voice saying Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the Throne and unto the Lamb. And John was asked what these were which were arrayed in white Robes and whence they came he was not asked what they were that were sealed they were told him before that they were of all the Tribes of the Children of Israel and it was told John These are they which come out of great tribulations and have washed their Robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb therefore they are before the Throne of God and serve him day and night in his Temple and he that sitteth on the Throne shall dwell among them John did but hear of the hundred and forty four thousand sealed to be the Servants of God of all the Children of Israel but he beheld and lo that is with a kind of admiration this great multitude that no man could number now amongst men that is looked upon as a more certain knowledge which they behold with their eyes than what they hear with their ears although John might not question the truth that
things contained in the Law of God And there is in man but two Natures the Nature of the Serpent and his seed and the Nature of the Womans seed and therefore if those Gentiles that had not Gods Law written without them did by Nature the things contained in Gods Law within them it must be by the nature of the seed of the Woman which is the Divine Nature Jesus the seed that is sown which is the Word the true light which as a seed is sown upon all the four sorts of grounds and lighteth every man that cometh into the World but it bringeth forth fruit in its own likeness in none of the grounds but the good ground which these Gentiles were of the number of for they having not the Law that is the written Law without them are a Law to themselves The seed sown in the good ground and in them bringing forth its own likeness made them in the Image of God made them a Law to themselves Jesus as a light that gave them the knowledge of Gods Law which in substance is this To do that God hath commanded and to leave undone what God hath forbidden he wrought obedience in them to Gods Law and this was the nature by which the Gentiles did the things contained in Gods Law and so they are a Law to themselves and so they shew the works of the Law written in their hearts these Gentiles by their obedience they shew not onely that the Law of God was written in their hearts but they shew the work of the Law of God that was written in their hearts they made the tree known to be good by the fruits which few of these of the Tribes of the Jews that were in the outward form of worship did do which had the written Law and Prophets read amongst them every Sabbath day their Consciences bearing them witness These Gentiles had a witness in them that they did the things contained in the Law of God that was the witness of God in their Consciences which is a most certain witness it witnesseth to nothing but what is true so that if any should have questioned them whether or no they did yield obedience to the Law of God in them and they had answered they did if they had not been believed they could have proved the truth of it by a very good witness the witness of God in their Consciences And their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another There was in the Gentiles not onely a taking notice of the actions done by them and the words spoken by them whether they were agreeable to the Law of God writ in their hearts but so much were they brought to an obedience to the Law of God in them and they thereby became such a Law to themselves as that they took notice in themselves of their very thoughts and according as they were if bad and evil then their Conscience the witness of God in them that accused them for their bad and evil thoughts There was that in them that did not onely judge and condemn them for evil works done by them or evil words spoken by them but they were accused for evil thoughts and there was that in them that justified them for doing the things that were good contained in Gods Law and for speaking what was good and it excused them in their thoughts that were good And these Gentiles were all Nations and Kinreds and People and Tongues excepting the Jews and Paul did plainly say that the Gentiles that did the things contained in the Law of God were the true Jews and had the true Circumcision And those Jews that had the written Law of God without them and did not keep the Law although circumcised without in the flesh their Circumcision by breaking the Law was made Uncircumcision to them and they were not the true Jews see from the 15. vers to the end of the Chapter And this Paul doth not speak of such Gentiles as should believe in Jesus after the preaching of an outward Jesus to them that was Crucified at Jerusalem but of those Gentiles that had never heard of that Jesus for in the 24th verse he tells the Jews that the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you as it is written He made use of the Scripture to prove what he had spoken to be true God put no difference between the Jew and the Gentiles having purified their hearts by Faith Acts 15. 9. The Centurion that came to Jesus to have his servant healed Matth. 8. he was a Gentile and was not of the outward form of worshipping God that the Jews were of and Jesus says of him to the Jews that followed him that he had not found so great faith no not in Israel as he he had found in that Gentile and farther tells them that many shall come from the East and West and shall sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven but the Children of the Kingdom shall be cast into utter darkness there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth Mark many shall come from the East and from the West those many they must be Gentiles and such as were not counted the Children of the Kingdom of Heaven that is they were not counted the Children of the Kingdom of Heaven by the Jews which were in the outward form of worshipping God nor are they counted the Children of the Kingdom of Heaven by those that count themselves the Children of the Kingdom because they themselves are in the outward forms of worshipping of God and therefore they count themselves the Children of the Kingdom of Heaven as did the Jews because they were in the outward form of worshipping God they looked upon themselves as the onely Children of the Kingdom of Heaven and so Jesus calls them when he saith the Children of the Kingdom shall be cast out into utter darkness where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth None can think Jesus's meaning to be that the Children of the Kingdom that are the right heirs to it that they shall be cast out into utter darkness where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth No that cannot be for as they are Children of God so they are Heirs Heirs of God and joynt Heirs with Christ Rom. 3. 17. and it is the Fathers pleasure to give them the Kingdom Matth. 12. 32. These are not those that shall be cast out of the Kingdom but they that shall be cast out of the Kingdom are those that call themselves Children of God and so look upon themselves as the Children of the Kingdom because they are in an outward form of worshipping God in a way that God hath required to be worshipped in as to the outward form of worship as were the Jews but they did not do the things contained in the Law of God written in them they do not shew the works of the Law written in their hearts but boast and bear themselves up in an
be saved Gods end in sending his Son was not to condemn any one but to save all He that believeth on him is not condemned all those are saved that believe on him but he that believeth not is condemned already all those that do not believe on the begotten Son of God the true Light they are already condemned that is presently while they are in that state of unbelief All men as they have sinned are as they are in the state of sin under the sentance of condemnation but Gods love is such to man in general that he hath sent his onely begotten Son to take off that sentance of condemnation that whosoever did believe in him should not be condemned God grants to them that believe in his Son to speak after the manner of men a Pardon and so the sentence of condemnation is taken off from them and they are as if they had never been condemned but all those that do not believe in his Son they remain under that sentence of condemnation and so are condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the onely begotten Son of God The cause why all men are condemned is because they do not believe in the Name of the onely begotten Son of God As the name of a King signifies the power of the King so the Name of the onely begotten Son of God signifies the power of the onely begotten Son of God They do not believe in his power who is the true Light in them that makes known in them and shews unto them what may be known of God They do not believe that this Light hath power to save them or that there is a sufficient power in this Light that if they should yield obedience to it to save them And this is the condemnation that light is come into the world Light is come into the world into that world Man that God so loved that he gave his onely begotten Son that whosoever of that world Man believed in him should not perish but have everlasting life God hath by his true Light made known his love in them and their condemnation is not because they did not know God or for want of Gods making known his love to them or for want of Gods making known so much of God to them as may be known of God but it is because Light is come into the world Man come into them and men love darkness rather than light is because their deeds are evil For every one that doth evil hateth the light evil doers hate the Light hate Jesus the onely begotten Son of God whom God in his love hath sent to save them neither cometh to the light they will not come to Jesus the onely begotten Son of God the true Light that lighteth them that makes known in them and shew unto them what may be known of God to the end that they may be saved by believing in his Name by believing in his power but they will not come to him the true Light the power of God to salvation to be saved by him lest their evil deeds should be reproved or discovered They so love their evil deeds that rather than they will have them reproved or discovered so as to be brought to a leaving or forsaking of them They will not come to the Light to be saved by the Light that is to be saved by the onely begotten Son of God But he that doth truth cometh to the light that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God This is that which maketh the difference in men God makes known himself in all that which is to be known of God even his eternal power and Godhead Gods makes known in all he hath shewed it unto them and so they are without excuse His love is to all he gave his Son that whosoever none excepted that did believe in him should not perish He did not send his Son to condemn the world Man but to save the world Man and those that believe in him are not condemned but are saved from the condemnation and those that believe not are already condemned they are now in the state of condemnation And it is because they have not believed on him the condemnation is because Light is come into the World come into them and they believe not in it but they love darkness the works of darkness evil deeds better than they love the Light And instead of loving the Light that makes known evil deeds in them they hate the Light because it discovers lays open and makes their evil deeds known and reproves them for evil deeds and therefore they will not come to the Light but hate it The Light in them calls them to come and believe in it but they will not come and believe in it And why will they not come and believe in it It is because they love their evil deeds and that causes them to hate the Light but he that doth truth that is he that in sincerity and integrity of his heart doth the things that God hath made known in him to be his will that he should obey him in he cometh to the Light And why doth he that doth truth come to the Light It is that his deeds his works may be made known made manifest that they are wrought in God He that doth truth he that truly yields obedience to God according to what he knows of God his hearts desire is to bring all his actions and deeds to Jesus the true Light of God in him that thereby they may be made known made manifest made truly known in him and to him that they are the works of God wrought in him that is the great thing desired by him that doth the truth to know that all that is done in him is done by Jesus the truth in him So that the difference that is made in men is of their own making Gods love is general to all he sent his Son to save all that would believe in him he hath made known his love in all That which may be known of God is manifest in them God he hath shewed it unto them they are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal power and Godhead so that they are without excuse But some love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil and therefore they will not come to the light but are haters of the light Because that when they knew God they glorified him not as God nor were they thankful to God for what God had made known of himself to them but became vain in their imaginations Even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things that are not convenient Rom. 1. 21 28. I pray mark the words of the Scripture Even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge which knowledge they once had that God had given to them of himself
God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things that are not convenient Even that is just equal alike then things are said to be even when they are just equal alike Here is the reason why God gives men over to a reprobate mind to do those things that are evil It is because they do not like to retain to keep that knowledge that God hath given to them of himself and to keep it so as to glorifie him in that knowledge and so to glorifie him in that knowledge as thereby to manifest their thankfulness to him and to manifest their thankfulness by their obedience in obeying God according to what they know of him And the want of this their obeying God according to what God hath made known of himself unto them is the cause why even just alike God gives men over to a reprobate mind to do those things that are not convenient and as they are Reprobates so they are condemned Others that do the truth they obey God in Jesus the truth and their hearts desire is that Jesus the true Light may make known the truth in them and to them that their deeds are wrought in God and they are lovers of the Light and from that love that they have to the Light and to the doing the truth that is the doing of the will of God in sincerity and integrity of their hearts according as Jesus the true Light in them hath made known in them what is Gods will that they should do and what is Gods will that they should not do These they bring their deeds to the Light that they may be made manifest that is made known in them and to them that they are wrought by God in them Gods love is such to man in general to all men as that he is willing to keep man from perishing and is willing to save them and give them eternal life But some men are not willing to come to Jesus the true Light in them although God so loved the world Man as to send him to that end that whosoever believed on him should not perish but have eternal life yet Jesus the true Light said to some that thought to have eternal life in the Scriptures and it was to those that were in the highest outward form of worshipping God and said God was their Father to these Jesus said Ye will not come to me that ye might have life John 5. 39 40. Mans will is that which hinders man from coming to Jesus the true Light that they may have life that they may be saved by him God does his part in sending his Son into the World to save them and so the Father draws them by the Son and he is the true Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the World he makes known Gods love in them and to them and so the Father draws them by making known his love in them Can any one say that they have known the Father to draw them to come to the Son to believe on him any other way but as Jesus the Son the true Light in them hath made known the Fathers love to them And this God hath done to all because that which may be known of God is manifest in them God hath shewed it unto them The invisible things of him from the Creation of the World are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal power and Godhead Mark that Even his eternal power and Godhead And what is there more to be known of God than his eternal power and Godhead Dare any one say that they know any thing more of God than what is contained in his eternal power and Godhead And although God hath so manifested himself in them and shewed himself to them yet they will not come to his beloved Son Jesus the true Light that they may have life Jesus did not say to them the subtle Serpent Satan the Tempter or the Devil that they would not have them come to him that they might have life but it was their will that hindered or kept them back from coming to Jesus that they might have life Ye will not come to me that ye might have life Oh Will Will that which brought man into sin and so brought death that keeps man from coming to Jesus the true Light that they may again have life To speak something of what I know of taking up the Cross and to follow JESUS TO have the will brought to be resigned up into Gods will to be given up into the will of God to be what God will this is the taking up of the Cross and following of Jesus this is to be a Disciple of Jesus this is to learn of Jesus and without this whatsoever outward profession any may be of how zealous soever they may be in that outward profession how outwardly blameless soever they may live how much soever they may be esteemed of by others how high esteem soever they may have of themselves as to be the Disciples the Scholars or Learners of Jesus yet if they have not learned some part of this Lesson to deny themselves to deny all that is of self in them which the will is a great part of and take up his Cross and follow Jesus The Cross that Jesus took up was the Cross to that will in him that as he was man would have had the Cup taken from him but he took up the Cross to that will in praying Father not my will but thy will be done and this Cross must all take up that will be his Disciples that will learn of him and follow him in the spirit and not be knowers of him in the flesh and followers of him onely in the flesh Jesus said to his Disciples that if any man will come after him and whosoever will come after him must deny himself and take up his Cross daily and follow him Matth. 16. 24. Mark 8. 24. Luke 9. 23. I pray mark the words of the Scripture if any man will or whosoever will which is as much as to say there is none whosoever that can come after Jesus there is none whosoever that can follow Jesus there is none whosoever that can learn of Jesus but they must first deny themselves deny all that is of self in them which will is a great part of All that is of self is first to be denyed before man can take up his Cross and follow Jesus before man can take up a Cross to his own will his own will must first be denyed be said Nay to be resisted as being of the Devil Resist the Devil and he will flee from you Jam. 4. 7. Resist the Temptations of the will and stand in obedience to Jesus the true Light and that will which opposeth Gods will that will flee from you it will not abide the battel with you but it will flee from you it will vanquish will be overcome and cease to be in you as it ceased to
that is because the words spoken they did not feel them to reach to the witness of God in them or theseed of God in them and therefore they judged them not to be spoken by the true spirit of Jesus in him that spake them and that because they found some thing burdened or troubled in them when those words were spoken and yet they could not deny but that he might speak what he knew to be the work of God in him and that his words were true and that his life was answerable to his words but because they did not feel his words to reach to the witness of God in them or the Seed of God in them but there was something troubled and burden'd in them when they heard those words spoken therefore it was that they judged him to speak these words by a wrong Spirit I pray mark the Argument because the Seed of God in them or the witness of God in them was not reach'd to by the words spoken therefore they must be spoken by a wrong Spirit and why must they be spoken by a wrong Spirit is because some thing was troubled or burdened within them by those words spoken and therefore that which was troubled or burdened in them by those words being spoken must be the seed of God in them or the witness of God in them that must be the thing troubled or burdened in them by those words Oh the mystery of deceit that lieth secretly hid in the heart of man by the subtilty of the Serpent self-will in man who will not bring their deeds to the light to be made manifest who will not bring their deeds to the truth that the true Light hath made known in the Scriptures to be thereby judged whether they be true or false but do talk of a Light in them and to walk by the Light and yet do things and judge of things contrary to what the Scripture makes known to be true which was given forth by the true Light For by the Scriptures there is nothing more plainer than that it is the duty of all to make known to others what God hath made known of himself to them in his great work of saving of man from the subtilty of the Serpent by whose temptation man was brought to sin brought to disobey God But this making known what God hath made known of himself in saving from sin this say they was spoken by a wrong Spirit and the reason why it must be so that it was spoken by a wrong Spirit is because they did not feel the words spoken to reach the seed of God or the witness of God in them and because there was something in them that was troubled or burdened by hearing those words spoken and that they say is the seed of God in them And if they had said it had been the seed of the Serpent in them that had been troubled they had spoken more truer and agreeable to the testimony of the Scripture Mat. 16. 21 22 23. Jesus tells his Disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things and be killed and be raised again the third day What is this but a making known to them what God the Father had made known to him that he was to do for the saving of man from the subtilty of the Serpent who by his temptations had caused man to sin Dare any one be so wicked as to say that Christ did not speak this by the true Spirit but it was a wrong Spirit in Christ that spake it I say dare any be so wicked as to say so And yet these true words of his did not reach to the seed of God in Peter and yet Peter was troubled there was something in Peter that was oppressed and burdened with the hearing of Jesus speaking of these words And none can reasonably believe but that Peter thought and believed that that which was troubled and burdened by these words spoken by Jesus was something in him that was good something in him that loved Jesus which Peter might as some others have done think that it was the seed of God in him that was troubled and burdened at what Jesus spake And that made him take the boldness upon him as to take Jesus to him and began to rebuke him saying Be it far from thee Lord this shall not be unto thee And I pray what was this in Peter that was so troubled and burdened in Peter at what Christ had said Was it not Peter's Will in him which was contrary to Gods Will This Will of Peter's that was thus troubled and burdened that lay uppermost in Peter and that was that which hindered in Peter Christs words that they did not reach the seed of God in Peter the subtilty of the Serpents self in Peter deceived him He having been a Disciple a follower of Jesus and having preached the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand and had power to heal all manner of Diseases and to cast out Devils and had given that testimony of Jesus that he had the words of eternal life might not Peter who had done all this think that Jesus spake by a wrong Spirit because he found his words to be a trouble and burden to him Peter he did so think that he spake by a wrong Spirit and that is plain by the Scripture for he began to rebuke Jesus for what he had said and told him in his rebuking of him that that should not be done to Jesus that Jesus had said should be done to him And so he makes Jesus to speak a lye And what is that less than to tell Jesus that he did not speak those words by the true Spirit For if Peter had believed that they had been spoken by a true Spirit Peter would have believed the words would prove true and he would not have gone about to reprove him for speaking true words by the true Spirit but Peter did not believe the words to be true and going about to reprove him for speaking of them it is plain that Peter believed they were spoken by a wrong Spirit when it was the lying Spirit in Peter that reproved Jesus for speaking the truth And Peter's rebuke was made up of nothing but lyes and that made Jesus call him Satan and told him he was an offence to him for he favoured not of the things that be of God but those things that be of men that was he savoured not the things of God the doing Gods will which was to be done by Jesus going to Jerusalem and to suffer many things of the Elders Chief Priests and Scribes and to be killed and be raised again the third day See who they were that Jesus suffered under it was under those that were high in an outward form of worshipping God And as Peter savoured not the things of God the having of Gods will done so he did savour the things of men he favoured the having of his own will done for it was a will of Peter's
own which he had not taken up the Cross to that would not that Jesus should do what was Gods will in him that he should do And it was this will of Peter's that was contrary to the will of God that was troubled and and burdened at Jesus's words when Jesus spake the truth and it was in that will of his own that did believe that Jesus spake those words by a wrong Spirit for he made Jesus a lyar saying that it should not be as Jesus had said And in this will in this wrong Spirit in this Satan in this Devil Peter undertook to rebuke Jesus for speaking the truth that he had received of the Father as to my knowledge others have done the like And further to make it more manifest that it is a lying and deceitful Spirit which worketh in the Will that perswades to believe that those things that are true which be spoken are spoken by a wrong Spirit and all the reason that is given why it must be so that it is spoken by a wrong Spirit is because it does not reach the seed of God in them but they find a burden a load oppressing them and it is a great trouble to them to hear those words spoken And if this were true then Jesus in the time that he had lived upon the Earth spake many times by a wrong Spirit in that it did not reach the seed of God in his Disciples Mark 14. 27 vers to 31 vers Jesus saith to his Disciples All ye shall be offended because of me this night for it is written I will smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered But Peter said Although all shall be offended yet will not I. Jesus saith unto him This night before the cock crow twice thou shalt deny me thrice But he spake the more vehemently If I should die with thee I will not deny thee in any wise Likewise also said they all I pray observe the words of the Scripture Jesus had told them that that night they should be all offended because of him and he proves the truth of it by Scripture for it was written I will smite the shepherd and the sheâ—p shall be scattered What Jesus spake was the truth he had received from the Father And did he not spake these words by the true Spirit And yet this did not reach the seed of God in them so as to believe he spake true And therefore how could they believe that Jesus spake these words by the true Spirit yea by their own answers it did appear that they all believed that he spake them by a wrong Spirit because they all said that should not be true that Jesus had spoken Jesus had said that they should be all offended because of him that night and the truth of that Scripture should be fulfilled that night that the Shepherd should be smitten and the Sheep scattered Peter who had at another time some distance of time between before that time began to rebuke him for speaking something to that purpose he does not now reprove Jesus for speaking the truth but he again contradicts him for speaking the truth and tells him that what he had spoken should not be done for although all should be offended because of him yet would not he And when Jesus told him that that night before the Cock crew twice he should deny him thrice he spake the more vehemently If I die with thee I will not in any wise deny thee Likewise also said they all That is all of them said as Peter had said that they would not be offended because of him that night and before they would deny him they would die with him As Peter in his own Will had resolved to do so had they resolved in their Wills to do I pray what hindred the true words spoken by Jesus that it did not reach the seed of God in them Was it because they were spoken by a wrong Spirit Or was it not because their own Wills lay uppermost in them above the seed of God in them and so made such a separation as that the words spoken by Jesus could not reach the seed of God in them Was it not their own Wills in them that would not have them to be offended because of him that night being it was Gods will that it should be so and God had caused the Prophets to foretel the same But there was in them all a Will opposing the Will of God and that Will of theirs was that which hindred that Jesus's true words spoken by the true Spirit that they did not reach the seed of God in them and this Will of theirs was troubled and burdened by the words spoken by Jesus What might not this Will say in them or they say in this Will What shall I that have been a Disciple a Follower of Jesus that have been sent by him to preach the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand have had power to heal all manner of Diseases and to cast out Devils and have had my outward feet lately washed by him and that night received of him that which is commonly called the Sacrament of his Body and Bloud and what shall I now be offended because of this Jesus that hath done so much for me No I will not be offended no rather than I will be offended because of him I will first die with him This Will of theirs that was not willing that Gods Will should be done in them this Will of theirs was burdened and troubled in hearing Jesus speak those true words That that night they should be all offended because of him And from this strong fleshly love and affection that they had to the fleshly Body of Jesus might they not think as others have done that it was something in them that was good something in them that was of God that was troubled and burdened at Jesus speaking of the true words by the true Spirit When indeed and in truth that which was burdened and troubled at Jesus's true words spoken by the true Spirit it was nothing but the fleshly will of theirs in which will they opposed the will of God as others have done in this knowing Age. How were these deceived by the subtile Serpents self their own wills in them who hod been so much with Jesus and had received so much from Jesus and yet had not taken up the Cross to their own wills but were in the knowing of Jesus after the flesh and followers of Jesus after the flesh and were ignorant of his Death and Resurrection in them Luke 18. 31 32 33 34. Then took he unto him the Twelve and said unto them Behold me go unto Jerusalem and all things that are written by the Prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished for he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles and shall be mocked and spitefully entreated and spit on and they shall scourge him and put him to death and the third day he shall rise again and they
understood none of these things and the saying was hid from them neither understood they the things that were spoken Does any one believe that Jesus spake these true words and that he did not speak them by a true spirit but that it was a wrong spirit in Jesus that spake these words I say that if any one does believe that these true words spoken by Jesus were not spoken by the true spirit and if not spoken by the true spirit then they must be spoken by the false spirit They that do so believe I believe they will be ashamed to say that they believe that Jesus did not speak these true words by the true spirit and that he spake them by the wrong spirit And if Jesus did speak these words by the true spirit as that Jesus did speak them by the true spirit then see the falsity and deceit that is in the Argument that I have heard often and that by many used that because by the true words spoken they did not feel them to reach the witness of God the seed of God in them when they heard them spoken therefore it was that they believed the true words spoken were not spoken by the true spirit but by a wrong spirit By the same rule the Twelve might have judged that Jesus did not speak those true words and why because they understood none of these things and the saying of his was hid from them neither knew they the things that were spoken If they had felt these words of Jesus to have reached the witness of God the seed of God in them how then could it have been that they understood none of those things and his saying was hid from them neither knew they the things that were spoken if they had felt those true words spoken by Jesus by the true light and by him proved by Scriptures not onely by one Scripture but by many Scriptures by all things that are written by the Prophets concerning him if they had felt these words to have reached the seed of God the witness of God in them they would have understood something of those sayings they would not all have been hid from them they would have known something of what had been spoken but by this Scripture it is plainly proved that true words may be spoken by the true spirit and proved by many Scriptures and that too concerning Christs being put to death and by whom and the place where and of his rising again and when he rise And all these may be spoken of the inward work of God in the heart of men as the like I have known and yet the Witness of God the seed of God in the hearers have not been by them felt to be reached unto by the words so spoken none of the Twelve understood any of the things Jesus spake of I pray observe none of his hearers understood any of the saying he spake And so although they have understood the outward sound of the Words spoken as the Twelve did the outward Words spoken by Jesus yet the inward meaning of them the spiritual meaning of them as they are wrought asked and done in man may be hid from them and they may know nothing of those things spoken as to the Work of God in the heart and yet they may be spoken to such as the Twelve were or at least would be counted such as the Twelve were that is those that had the most familiar acquaintance with Christ who Jesus had sent forth to preach that the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand and had cast out Devils in his Name And yet these did not know what Christs Death and Resurrection was neither understood they any thing of it when he spake of it to them And may there not be such in this knowing Age we live in that may for some years have been Disciples and followers of Christ in the flesh and have had a familiar acquaintance with him and have been sent to preach the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand and have cast out Devils in his Name and yet have not known Christs Death and Resurrection nor have understood any thing of it when it hath been spoken of to them by those that have known the inward work of it wrought within them Luke 9. 44 45 46. Jesus said to his Disciples Let these sayings sink down into your ears for the son of man shall be delivered into the hands of men But they understood not the saying and it was hid from them and they perceived it not and they feared to ask him of that saying Then there arose a â—easoning among them which should be the greatest Mark the Scripture were not these true words spoken by Jesus and were they not spoken by the true spirit in him and were they not spoken to his Disciples his followers And yet these true words were spoken by Jesus and spoken by the true spirit in that person that never had sinned and they by the true spirit were called upon that those sayings should sink down into their ears and yet true words thus spoken by the true spirit in him that they had no just cause to speak evil of although some when they could not deny the truth of what he had said were so bold as to say to him Say we not well that thou art a Samaritane and hast a devil John 8. There is that have met with words to the like purpose when they could not deny the truth of what hath been spoken and yet these true words spoken by one whom there hath not been the like man upon Earth And yet they that heard him speak them and to whom they were directly spoken unto and called upon that 〈◊〉 words should sink down into their ears and yet they did not feel in them that these true words spoken by a man in whom the fulness of the true spirit dwelt bodily these words they did not feel that they reached the witness of God the seed of God in them because they understood not thaâ— saying it was hid from them they perceived it not How fully how plainly does the Scripture make out the deceivableness of that Argument That because when they hear true words spoken and they do not feel the witness of God the seed of God in them to be reached by these words therefore they that speak them must speak them by a wrong spirit Oh! the subtilty that the subtile Serpents self useth to deceive people in a form of Godliness perswading them that in the disobeying God in the looking upon the tree of Knowledge they shall be as Gods and so have a liberty to judge according to the putting forward of their own wills in them These true words were spoken by Jesus a man in whom the fulness of the true spirit dwelt bodily and by him called upon that those sayings should sink down into their ears which is more than onely to give them the hearing of them and yet for all this they did not
more to silence when he made use of the Scripture as an Argument 〈◊〉 perswade him to yield to his Temptation than he did rebuke him stop his mouth and put him to silence when he spake no Scripture in tempting of him no nor so much neither for you will find in the next Temptation when the Devil makes no use of Scripture he rebukes him more sharply and stops his mouth and puts him to silence And therefore there is no ground from this Scripture to build such an Objection or Argument upon that an evil or wrong spirit or the spirit of the Devil in man may speak true words the words of the Scripture and bring it in for a proof of what he had before said but such a spirit is not to be suffered to speak such words but to be rebuked and put to silence according to Jesus's Example when Jesus did no such thing nor gave no such Example But before I pass from this Temptation I desire the Objecter to follow Jesus's Example which is our duty so to do Doth the Devil get thee into the holy City the holy City of God in man and set thee upon a Pinacle of the Temple there within thee read it within and would have thee cast thy self down from thence where he hath exalted thee in the holy City upon a Pinacle of the Temple of God in thee thereby to manifest thy self to be the son of God thereby to make it known that thou art Gods son in another way than the way that God hath declared thee to be his son in read it within And does he bring Scripture to thee to prove that thou mayst safely do it thou mayst tempt God in making known thy self to be his son in a way he hath not commanded and it will be no danger to thee to do it read it within I could tell my experience herein but I know it will be with many in this knowing Age as it was with the Eleven when Jesus had many things to say to them but they could not bear them then John 16. 12. but the time is coming and at hand when men shall read them within and then it will be born when true words may by all be spoken and will be born without being a burden o◠trouble to any of the Hearers that obey the Light in them and make it their Guide to guide them into all Truth Then it will be known to be a duty to follow Jesus's Example to resist the Temptation how highly soever he hath exalted thee and lifted thee up in his Temptation as he did Jesus in bringing him into the holy City and setting him upon a Pinacle of the Temple and then and there would have him to manifest himself to be the son of God and brings Scripture to prove the lawfulness thereof Which I know are all Figures and are to be read and known within And if thou find the Devil thus to tempt thee as some have done follow Jesus's Example do not so much seek to stop the mouth of the temptation as to stand fast in thy obedience in keeping with Jesus in the low and meek Spirit and bring Scripture to contradict the Temptation as Jesus did He tells the Devil It is written again Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God The Devil brought Scripture to prove that if he were the son of God that God had given his Angels charge to keep him from harm Jesus answered the Devil It is written Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God Which as no Scripture is of private interpretation so is not this And in these few words Jesus according to our Proverb Kill two Birds with one stone he tells the Devil that it is not his duty to tempt him as he is his Lord and God nor was it his duty as he was man and the son of God to tempt the Father in casting himself down from thence because the Father had so great a love for him as to give his Angels charge concerning him to keep him from harm And when this Example of Jesus is followed in resisting of the Devil in his Temptations the Cross will be taken up to that Will that would run out to judge to rebuke to stop the mouth and to make them keep silence that are speaking of true words for Jesus did not so rebuke the Devil for speaking true words as to stop his mouth or make him keep silence Because that again after this the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them And saith All these things will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me Then said Jesus unto him Get thee hence Satan for it is written Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou serve Then the devil leaveth him I pray hear the Devil brings no Scripture nor speaks nothing to him whereby he would have him manifest himself to be the son of God in yielding to him in his Temptations In this Temptation he onely got him up into an exceeding high Mountain and shewed him all the Kingdoms of the World and the glory of them and promises to give him all them if he would fall down and worship him And for this setting of him upon an high Mountain which I know is to be read within and then shewing of him all the Kingdoms of the World which is to be read within and then telling him All these will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me which also may be read within All of them I know to be Figures And for this Temptation Jesus rebukes him more sharper than for the other two and if I may use such an expression he did more stop his mouth and put him to silence than he did in the other two Temptations First he bids him get him hence Satan he did not before command the Devil to depart from him nor did he call him Satan when in the other two Temptations he would have had him answered his Temptations by making himself known to be the son of God in ways that God had not required of him to manifest himself to be his son in and for the last of the two he brings Scripture to prove that he might do it with his own safety and yet in neither of those two Temptations he did not command him to depart from him nor call him Satan But now when he had taken him up into an exceeding high Mountain and shewed him all the Kingdoms of the World and the glory of them now to tempt him to have such a love to the World to the enjoyments thereof and the glory of it as for the sake thereof to fall down and worship him This caused Jesus to command the Devil to depart from him and to call him Satan Tempter and bring Scripture for his denying to yield to the Temptation It is written Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God
and actions done in us by this Light to the Scriptures to be judged Or wilt thou have us bring our obedience done by this Light in us to be proved by the Scriptures whether or no they be such things as God requires of us to be done What wouldst thou have us to bring the Light to be tryed by the Scriptures that gave forth the Scriptures What to try the Creator by the Creature the Maker by the thing made What wouldst thou have the Spirit tried by the dead Letter To this I answer The Light the true Light is one and the same it never alters nor changes and it is one and the same in all men as it is the true Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the World and it is the same in those that have no Scriptures in those that have nothing outwardly written that was given forth by the holy men that spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost It is the same true Light in those that have no Scriptures as it is in those that have the Scriptures And if that be the Argument that because we have the Light in us that gave forth the Scriptures therefore we need not make use of the Scriptures or not so much use of them as to bring our works actions and doings to them to be tryed by them to see if they be agreeable to the works actions or doings done by the holy men of old by that spirit in them that gave forth the Scriptures or agreeable to what the holy men of old gave forth in the Scriptures to be Gods will for man to do I ask them that make this for an Objection this Question Whether or no Jesus had not as man as much of this Light in him as thou hast And yet he made use of the Scriptures to prove that what he did was agreeable to Gods declared will written in the Scriptures that he as a son ought to do in obedience to the Father It is true that those that have not the Scriptures they cannot bring their works to the Scriptures to try them whether or no their works are agreeable to those works done by the holy men of old or agreeable to that which the holy men of old gave forth in the Scriptures to be Gods will that man should obey him in These not having the Law written without them they cannot bring their works to a written Law without them to be tryed by that but they having onely the Law written within them in their hearts they bring their works to that Law to be tryed by that written Law in their hearts Rom. 2. 14 15. But for others that have the Law and the Prophets and the Writings of Matthew Mark Luke and John and of the Apostles without them for them that have the Scriptures to talk of bringing the Light to be tryed by the Scriptures that is to bring the spirit the Life that gave forth the Scriptures to be tryed by the dead Letter Is not this a piece of the Serpents subtile deceit to talk after this manner But for those that have the Scriptures for them to bring their works actions and doings of those that own that they have the true Light in them and walk in obedience to that Light in them for them to bring this obedience of theirs that they say is done by the true Light and not to bring the true Light it self to prove that by Scripture that is to prove their obedience to the Light by the Scripture and not to prove the true Light by the Scripture whether or no their obedience be according to the obedience wrought in the holy men of old by the same spirit that gave forth the Scriptures by the true Light that spirit of God in them that gave forth the Scriptures wherein God hath made known to man what is his will that man should do and what is his will that man should not do This is that which we that have the Scriptures should bring to the Scriptures to prove the truth of not to prove the truth of the Light whether that be true or no but to prove the truth of our obedience to the Light in our works actions and doings to prove whether they be wrought in us by the true Light the spirit of God in us or whether they be wrought in us by the subtilty of the Serpent in us for there is in man but two Natures whereby and from whence all our works actions and doings come and proceed that is the seed of the woman and the Serpent and his seed and whatsoever is not done in us by the seed of the woman in us by Jesus the true Light in us is done in us by the Serpent and his seed in us And this is that we are to bring to the Scriptures to be proved and tryed by whether or no our works doings or actions that be done in us be done in us by the seed of the woman or by the Serpent and his seed and for that they are true Rules for us to know by that is true Rules for us to know by which Nature in us our works actions or doings are wrought in us And is not that but a piece of the subtile Serpents deceit to talk of such a thing as of bringing the Light in them to the Scriptures to be tryed by them whether it is the true Light or no That is no other but to bring the spirit to be tryed by the Letter which cannot be And by their so talking of bringing the Light the spirit to be tryed by the letter of the Scriptures do they not thereby put a slight or undervaluing of the true Light or spirit that gave forth the Scriptures Or are they not such who do so talk that seek by their so talking to make the Scriptures of little or no use but onely as to what things they please and when they please and where they please As if the Light the true Light and spirit of God that gave forth the Scriptures by the holy men of God was one thing then in them and did one thing then in them in making known what was Gods declared will for man to do in obedience to him and that it is another thing now in man in making known another thing now to be the will of God that man should do and that is contrary to what was Gods will declared in the Scriptures I know that as to an outward form of Worship God did make known one thing to be his mind and will to the Prophets and another thing to the Apostles but however here was no contradiction that outward form of Worship in the time of the Law and the Prophets did not contradict that outward form of Worship that was in the Apostles time nor did that outward form in the Apostles time contradict that outward form of Worship that was in the time of the Law and the Prophets The one was but a Type and Figure of
the other and what was in the one was in the other as God was in them both worshipped as a spirit and the Worship that then was and now is performed as God then did and now doth look for and accept of is to worship him in spirit and in truth and so in that there was no contradiction There was not one thing that was Gods will for man to obey him in the days of the Prophets and another thing in the days of the Apostles that was to be done in man and that in obedience to God which was contrary to that which was Gods revealed will to be done in the days of the Prophets that they were to obey God in No there was no such contradiction And that now there is another thing wherein God is to be obeyed in in these days of Gods making the Light to shine more in the inward part of man than formerly and this other thing that God is now to be obeyed in as some would have it that are not willing to bring their works deeds or actions to the Scriptures to be tryed by them whether or no they be agreeable to the works deeds or actions of the holy men of old by whom God by the spirit by the true light gave forth the Scriptures and in them gave forth what was his will that man should do in obedience to him This other thing that some pretends by the light in them that they are now to obey God in is contrary and not agreeable to Gods declared will in the Scriptures and so they make the unchangeable God to be like changeable men to have one thing to be his will for man to obey him in at one time and another thing quite contrary to that to be his will for man to obey him in at another time Jesus the true light the Word of God by whose spirit the holy men of old spake as they were moved in giving forth the Scriptures both Prophets and Apostles it was the command of this Jesus this true light this spirit that gave forth the Scriptures in that outward body that he took in the nature of man to search the Scriptures John 5. 39. And he giveth the reason why it is that he commands them to search the Scriptures it was because they are they that testifie of him they are they that bear witness they are they that testifie that bear witness what he is they are they that testifie which witness what was the Fathers will that as man he was to do they are they that testifie that bear witness that as he was man he came not to do his own will but the will of the Father that sent him They are they that testifie that bear witness what Jesus the true light the Word of God in man is And they are they that testifie that bear witness what this true light is in every man and what this true light Jesus doth in every man They are they that is the Scriptures are they that testifie that bear witness how this true light Jesus by his spirit it teacheth it guideth it leadeth man into the doing of all that is of the Truth by that spirit that is of his sending forth according to his promise that he would send the spirit of truth and when he is come he shall guide them into all truth for he shall not speak of himself but whatsoever he shall hear that shall he speak for he shall receive of mine and shew it to you John 16 13 14. How do they disobey Jesus Command that refuse to bring their works actions and doings to the Scriptures to be tryed by them whether or no they are the works actions and doings of Jesus the true light in them and that under a pretence because Jesus the true light is in them and therefore it is that they need not or ought not to do it And how willingly are they to be deceived in thinking what is done in them and by them is done in and by Jesus the true light in them And yet will not bring it to that which Jesus saith testifieth which bear witness to what is the works of Jesus in them And therefore there is great reason why the Scriptures are to be searched to be sought after searched and sought into to find out what it is that they testifie what it is that they bear witness of Jesus to be as he is the true Light the Word of God the Saviour of man As he sends his spirit of Truth into man to make known to man what that spirit receives from him and thereby to guide man into all Truth and whatever it is in man that pretends to be the work actions or doings of the Light of Jesus in them and is not agreeable to the testimony the witness that the Scripture bears of Jesus the true Light and of his works actions or doings in man And if that be true that Jesus said as I believe none dare deny the truth of it that the Scriptures testifie of him then those works actions or doings that they do not testifie to be the works of Jesus in man as he is the true Light and sends his spirit to guide them into all Truth may very well be looked upon and judged to be the work of Satan the subtile Serpent in man transforming himself into the likeness of an Angel of Light which Satan did in the Apostles time upon the like occasion read 2 Corinth 11. 13 14 15. For such are false Apostles deceitful workers transforming themselves into the Apostles of Christ And no marvel for Satan himself is transformed into an Angel of light Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness but let them be so yet their end shall be according to their works The Apostle speaking of Christ and how it is our duty to follow Christ's Example he brings Scripture to prove the truth of what he said Rom. 15. 1 2 3 4. We therefore that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please our selves Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to his edification For even Christ pleased not himself but as it is written The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope The Apostle here sets down the duty of those that are strong and may I not say of those that would be thought or do think themselves stronger than others and that is not to please themselves to satisfie and content themselves in that they are stronger than others and so exalt themselves over and above those that are weak but their duty is to bear the infirmities of the weak and thereby to please his neighbour for that is good to edification And it this their so doing that was to follow the example of Christ who
of ours so we act and do the same things that were acted and done by that Body of Jesus As the same Divine Nature dwells in us as it takes up its abode and stays in us and remains in us so in these bodies of ours are the same things acted and done as was by the same Divine Nature acted and done in that Body of Jesus wherein the fulness of the Divine Nature dwelt For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily Col. 2. 9. I do not say that the same things are acted and done in these bodies of ours wherein this Divine Nature may appear to be in and their making known that this is the will of God that man should do and that is the will of God that man should not do for so a measure of this Divine Nature is in all men as he is the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world John 1. And the World was made by him and the World knew him not the World knew him not and yet they were made by him and were his own as he was their Creator and he came to them as he is the true light in them but they did not receive him they would not give him entertainment they would not let him dwell in them and therefore it is that the same things are not acted and done in them that was acted and done in the outward Body of Jesus and yet he was in them as a light but to as many as received him as many as was willing that he should dwell in them to them he gave power to be the Sons of God even to them that believed in his Name even to as many as believed in the power of him the true light in them which was the Word and the Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us and we beheld his Glory the Glory as of the onely begotten of the Father full of Grace and Truth where a measure of the same Divine Nature dwells in these bodies of ours that the fulness thereof dwelt in that outward body of Jesus There is a beholding of it a seeing of it as the Glory of the onely begotten of the Father in them which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead 1 Pet. 1. 3. I say that where the will is resigned and given up into the will of God there it does make it appear that we are like Jesus that as the Divine Nature was in that outward body of Jesus and dwelt there and in that outward body it did the will of God the Father so a measure of the same Divine Nature is in these bodies of ours and dwells there and in these bodies of ours do the will of God the Father as it did in that body of Jesus And as Jesus did nothing of himself but as the Father taught him and as the Father taught him so he spake those things that he spake So as our wills come to be resigned and given up into the will of God we will do nothing of our selves there will be a denying of all self and a doing onely of such things as the Father teacheth us and then there will be a denying of our selves in all we speak and a speaking of nothing but what the Father teacheth us to speak and therefore men may know by their actions and by their words whether in their actions and words their wills be resigned and given up to God and so thereby they may know whether a measure of the same Divine Nature dwells in that body of theirs that dwelt in that body of Jesus When men do nothing but what God the Father teacheth them to do and say nothing but what God the Father teacheth them to say then they make it appear that their wills are resigned and given up into Gods will and what is done and what is spoken in them is done and spoken by a measure of the same Divine Nature dwelling in them that dwelt in that body of Jesus and so they make it appear that they in these bodies be like to what Jesus was in that body But when men do such things as God the Father does not teach them to do and speak such words as God the Father does not teach them to speak they then make it appear that in the doing of those things and speaking of those words that their wills are not resigned and given up to Gods will nor are those things done nor those words spoken by a measure of the same Divine Nature dwelling in them that dwelt in that outward body of Jesus but those things that were done in them were such as that God did not teach them to do and those words spoken by them were such as that God did not teach them to speak Those works were done by them in their own Wills and those words spoken by them were spoken in their own Wills Jesus he spake nothing of himself but as the Father that sent him gave him a Command what he should say and what he should speak and he knew that his Command was life everlasting and therefore what he spake was even as the Father had said to him So as our wills come to be resigned and given up to the Will of God we will speak nothing of our selves but as God our Father giveth us a Command what we shall say and what we shall speak and we know that his Command is life everlasting and therefore what the Father gives in Command to speak even so as the Father hath said so to speak And where there is a knowing of what God hath given in Command to speak and that in this Command there is life everlasting and then where there hath not been a speaking of what God hath given in Command there the Will hath not been resigned nor given up into the Will of God nor hath it there been made appear that the same Divine Nature dwelt in that body that dwelt in the body of Jesus but in their own Wills in the Earthy part in them they have hid the Command of God in them that he hath given them to speak And therefore as man ought not to speak any thing in his own Will so man in his will ought not to hide or keep in silence any thing that God hath given him in Command to speak let it be never so little or never so much And as it is mans duty to obey Gods Command in speaking so man ought also to have a care in going beyond Gods Command in speaking for that is not to be like Jesus who spake even as the Father had said to him to speak just so much neither more nor less And as Jesus did manifest and make known to the World the love he had to the Father in that whatsoever the Father gave him in Command even so he did so where the Will is resigned and given up to the Will
is that which maketh chastisements although at present they seem grievous yet afterwards they yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness to them that are exercised therein This is the Feast of fat things and of Wine well refined from the lees that God hath made is making and will make upon his holy Mount for all Nations to come unto This is that which put more gladness into the heart than can the increase of Corn or Wine and all outward things This is that which causeth a lying down in peace The resigning and giving up of the will into the will of God was that in which the Faith of those mentioned in the 11th of the Hebrews was exercised in And who is it that can say upon a true examination that he hath any true peace any true quietness any true comfort any true quietness any true comfort any true content any true satisfaction in any thing that they desire to enjoy but as their wills be resigned and given up into the will of God in that enjoyment And who is it that can say upon a true examination that they have any true peace any true content any true satisfaction in any thing that does befal them or come to them or upon them that is contrary to the desire or will of man in them if they do not find that their wills as it is the will of man as it was in the man Christ Jesus are resigned and given up into the will of God in what is fallen upon them or come to them or upon them And in the having of the will resigned and given up into the will of God this gives true peace true quietness true comfort true content and true satisfaction in the enjoyment of what as man we desire to enjoy And in the having of the will resigned and given up into the will of God this giveth true peace true quiet true comfort true content and satisfaction in the bearing and suffering under those things that do befal us and come to us or upon us that are contrary to the desire and will of man in us And would man as God hath made him more reasonable and hath placed more of Reason in him than in all the Creatures upon Earth would he but consult with this Reason in him and be true to the Light of God in him he would see how reasonable a thing it is for him to resigne and give up his Will into the Will of God And if man did first consider the great care and love that God took I speak after the manner of men as God in the Scripture compares himself and his actions to man and to the actions of men and so after that manner I call it the great care and love that God did take in the creating and making of Man more than in all other things that he made In all other things that he made he did but say Let there be and there was as he said Let there be light and there was light And so on in the whole Creation it is And God said and as God said so it was until he came to make Man and then God said Let us make man Although the word us signifies more than one yet do I not believe that there is more than one God but God speaking after the manner of men calls in the advice or assistance of the whole Divine Nature that he would make himself known to man in as Father Son and Holy Ghost which he did not in all or any part of the Creation before and further he did not in all or any of the Creation before man being the last of the Creation He did not say Let us make it after our likeness but in the Creation of man he said Let us make man in our likeness And so God created man in his own Image And God did not say that he created any thing but man in his likeness and Image And moreover God did not give to any Creature that he had made except man the Dominion over any other Creature but to man God gave the Dominion over the fish of the Sea and over the fowl of the Air and over the cattel and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the Earth Would but man seriously consult with that Reason in him that God hath given to him above all the Creatures upon the Earth and believe the Truth that the true light in him would make known and discover to him in the reason that God hath given to him man could not but in the consideration of the great love that God manifests to him in his Creation in calling the whole Divine Nature to advise and assist in the making of him which he did not to all or any of the Creation besides man and then to make him in the likeness and Image of this Divine Nature which he made none of the Creation besides in and then to consider of the largeness of the Dominion that he gave to man over what he had created and gave no Dominion to any other Creature over any thing that he had Created â—nd if man would be serious in himself consulting with that Reason that God hath given to him and believe the truth of God in him the true light in him if he would believe the Truth of what this true Light in him would make known to him in the use of his Reason he could not deny but openly confess and own and that upon the consideration of what God hath done for him in his Creation that it is a thing very reasonable that man should resign and give up his will into the will of God to be what God would have him to be and further the light of God in man if man would be true to that light of God in him that would make known to man in that reason that God hath given to man That if man did not resign and give up his will into the will of God he would in the not doing of it shew and manifest an exceeding deal of Unworthiness Unthankfulness Disobedience and Rebellion against God who might very justly and reasonably require and command of man to have his will resigned and given up into his will for the great love and care that he manifested and made known to man above all other of his Creation in making of man in his likeness and Image and the Dominion that he gave him above what he gave to all other of his Creatures And if the consideration of Gods love to man in his Creation will not work upon man by the true light of God in him to the reasonableness that it is for man to resign and give up his will into Gods will then let man consider the unchangeableness of Gods love to man in that although God had manifested and made known so great love to man in his creating and making of him more than to any or all the Creatures that he made besides man and yet notwithstanding this great