Christ was the same yesterday to day and for ever and the light that comes from him is like him that also is the same yesterday to day and for ever It was the same under the law the same before the law the same since the lavv As the darkness all along hath been the same so the light all along hath been the same also It vvas the same in the Jews and the same in the Gentiles It vvas this God expected obedience to from the Jews and the Prophet in the name of the Lord disdains their sacrifices and brings them to this Micah 6. 8. He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God Their eye vvas upon sacrifices and oyl the prophet points them to that vvhich vvould bring them to the right sacrifice and to the true oyl And the Gentiles so far as they vvere obedient to this vvere accepted and excused in their ovvn consciences the faithful vvitness vvhereof is of God and vvil stand in the day of Christ Ro. 2. 15. 16. That which was from the beginning saith the Apostle John declare we unto you 1 Joh. 1. 1. And this is the message which we have heard of him and declare unto you that God is light and in him is no darkness at al ver 5. And the end of preaching this message is to dravv out of the darkness into the light to bring men to the feeling of the light of God in them and so to union vvith it vvhich being turned to dravvs out of the darkness God vvho is light is nigh to every man vvho is darkness though mans sense is very thick and can hardly see or feel him and a light from him shines in mans darkness but mans darkness comprehends it not So that this light is not nevv in it self but onely nevv to the old Spirit vvhich hath long lain hid in the region of darkness and death hath not known the light of life Object 2. That this is a natural light or the light of old Adams nature Answ It is in one sense a natural light it is of the nature of him from whom it comes of the nature of God and of his Christ whom it appears for but it is not of the nature of corrupt Adam whom it always reproved and against whom it stil stands a witness and condemns all corruption Man is darkness and when Christ comes to redeem him he finds him darkness and Christ finds no light in him to help him to discover sin to him but all the disoveries of sin that are made in the heart are by the light of Christ and not by any light of mans nature The Lord is the searcher of the heart and he searcheth it with his own candle and not with any left in mans nature Man fel into darkness knew not wher he was but the Lord cometh after him with his candle discovereth his state to him It is the light from which man fel and against which he sins that is alone able to make his disobedience manifest to him We know saith the Apostle that the law is spiritual but I an carnal Rom. 7. 14. The law is the lowest part of the light and yet that is spiritual and of Christs nature and not of Adams nature we know it saith the Apostle Such as know the nature of that which manifests sin know it to be spiritual It is the fallen man from the light the man in the darkness that cals the light darkness but that which discovers the darkness and reproves the darkness and warrs against the darkness is not darkness but the light of life And those who are spiritual and feel the nature and power of it in their spirits know it to be so But man hath set up a light of his own hath raised up a light by his study and invention in the strength of the fallen wisdom and now setting up this for light he must needs call the true light darkness as the Pharisees did Christ Object 3. That it makes the Scriptures void and useless Answ It came from the spirit that gave forth the Scriptures it is of the same nature with the light that shone in them that gave forth Scriptures it speaks the same thing with Scriptures it leads to the same thing and it opens witnesses to the words which the Scriptures speak and so it brings the Scriptures which have been long abused into their true use Indeed it puts an end to the corrupt use of Scriptures to mans inventing and forming things out of them but brings them into their true use and service It takes the Scriptures out of mans hand who hath slain the life by them and puts them into the hands of the spirit who makes the words again pure and quick and living purging away mans defiled and dead conceivings and interpretations of them A man must know the Spirit come to the spirit be joyned to and be in union with the Spirit before he can have the true understanding of the Scriptures The Scriptures of truth are the words of God or various expressions of his mind which he that searcheth into afore he hath his spirit cannot know and so man in this state can onely guess and imagine at things but cannot see the truth And from hence it is that so many sects and heaps are sprung up in the world according to the variety of their imaginations One sort of men cry this is the way this is the truth this is the Church this is the worship Another sort cry that is not it that is superstition and error but this is it and so a third and fourth c. So about Scriptures one saith this is the meaning another saith it is not so but this is the meaning The Papists say the Church must judge of the meaning of Scriptures and the Protestants who take more scope how do they doubt and differ and oppose one another about the interpretation of Scriptures which plainly showes that they do not plow with the right heifer for then there would be unity and certainty They let their own reasonings and imaginations loose and there is no foundation of certainty but had they waited for the Spirit to begin with and gone on no farther then he opened to them all these doubts and dissentions would have been choked in the birth or womb or not have come so far as either birth or womb Yet do I not altogether deny the reading of Scriptures even in this state if men read with fear and trembling not setting up his own understanding or the understanding of any man else but waiting for the spirit which can alone give him an understanding to receive the true knowledg But this I dare boldly affirm that mens reading of the Scriptures in their own wisdom and self-confidence or confidence of what interpretation others have given doth them no good at all
4. 3. and he that is entred into his rest hath ceased from his works as God from his vers 10. He that hath the least taste of faith knows a measure of rest finding the life working in him and his soul daily led further and further into life by the working of the life and the heavy yoke of his own labouring after life taken of from his shoulders Now here 's the truth here 's the life here 's the sabbath here 's the worship of the soul that 's led into the truth and preserved in the truth But what is the worship now in the Apostacy Among the Papists a very grosse worship a worship more carnal then ever the worship of the Law was for that though in its nature it was outward and carnal yet it was taught and prescribed by the wisdom of God and was profitable in its place and to its end but this was invented by the corrupt wisdom and set up in the corrupt wil of man and hath no true profit but keeps from the life from the power from the spirit in fleshly observations which feed and please the fleshly nature Look upon their daies consecrated to Saints and their canonical hours of Prayer and their praying in an unknown tongue with their fastings feastings saying of Ave-Maries Pater-nosters Creeds c. are not all these from the life out of the spirit and after the invention and in the wil of the flesh Ah their stink is greater then the flesh-pots of Egypt And the worship of the Protestants comes too near them for their worship is also from a fleshly principle and in their own times and wils and according to their own understanding and apprehension of things and not from the rising up and guidance of the infallible life of the spirit in them for that they will quench They also observe dayes and times and perishing ordinances and are not come out of the flesh into that spirit where the worship is to be know and to be in 3. The Faith the true faith was lost The faith which gives victory over the world the faith which feeds the life of the just and slayes the unjust the faith which is pure the mystery whereof is held in a pure conscience the faith which gives entrance into the rest of God the faith which is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen this hath been lost and is not yet to be found among those who go for Christians For those who challenge the name of Christians and say they believe in Christ and have faith in him cannot with their faith overcome the world but are daily overcome by the world Where is there a Christian but he is either in the honours or in the fashion or in the customes or in the worships of the world if not in them all He is so farre from overcoming these that he is overcome with them yea so overcome so drunk therewith that he hath even lost his senses and thinks he may be a Christian and in a good state while he is there And the life of the just is not fed by their faith but the unjust nature is fed and the righteous witnesse which is raised up and lives by the true faith is kept down and cannot bring forth his life in them because of their unbelife for that is the proper name of their faith for being not true faith it is not faith but unbelief And the faith of Christians so called is not a mystery they know not the mystery of it which is held in a pure conscience but consists in believing an Historical relation and in a fleshly improving of that and can be held in an impure conscience Neither are they entered into rest by their faith for they know not the Sabbath in the Lord but are still in a shadowy Sabbarh Neither is it the substance of what they hope for but the substance of what they hope for is strange to them They are not come to Mount Sion to the City of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem to the innumerable company of Augels to the general assembly and Church of the first born to God the Judge Christ the Mediator and the blood of sprinkling and so to unity and certainty in the life but are in opinions waies and practises suitable to the earthly spirit which may easily be shaken and must be shaken down to the ground if ever they know the building of God and the true faith 4. The love the true love the innocent love which think no il nor wishes no ill much lesse can do any il to any but suffereth long and is kind meek humble not seeking its own but the good of others this love is lost The love unfained is banished and a fained love such a love as enmity and violence proceeds from is got in the place of it The true love loves the enemy and cannot return enmity for enmity but seeks the good of them who hate it but this love can persecute and hate that which it calls the friend nay the brother because of some difference in opinion or practice The love that was in Christ taught him to lay down his life for his sheep and he that hath the same love can lay down his life for his brother But the love that is now among Christians tends rather to the taking away of life What is the love among the Papists See their Inquisitions their wraths their fire and fagot c. What is their love in New-England is it not a love that can imprison or banish their brother if he differ but a little from them in judgement or practise about their worship yea they can whip burn in the hand cut off ears just like the Bishops of old England If one had told them when they fled from the persecution of the Bishops here that they themselves should have done such things they would have been apt to reply with Hazael what are we dogs But they fled from the Cross which would have crucified that persecuting spirit and so carried it alive with them and being alive it grew by degrees to as great an head there as it did in the Bishops here And what is the love here in old England is it not a love that whips stocks imprisons stones jeeres yea the very Teachers which should be patterns of love to others they will cast into prison and distrein the goods of their brother even almost to his undoing for maintenance according to a Law of the Land made in the Apostacy See the Record of Sufferings for Tythes in England which may make any tender heart bleed to read it and is like to lie as a brand of infamy on the Magistracy and Ministry of England to succeeding generations Is this the love of the righteous seed or is it Cains love which is in profession in word in shew but not in deed and in truth And how can these love God nay if the true love
Object But hath there been no true Religion since the daies of the Apostes no true rule no true worship no true faith no true love no true hope joy or peace no true repentance conversion regeneration no true wisdom righteousnes sanctification and redemption no true Church no true Ministry What hath become of all our fore-fathers did they all perish And hath not this ministry converted many to God were not yee your selves converted by it Nay have not many of them been Martyrs and witnessed to the truth of God And though some of them are bad yet are not many of them zealous and conscientious Preachers of the Word at this day By such reasonings as these the wisdom of man much strengthens and hardens it selfe against the truth Answ The rule in Nations the worship in Nations the faith love hope joy peace repentance conversion regeneration c. which have been cried up in Nations for the truth the Churches in Nations the Ministry in Nations all these have been corrupted and never recovered their true state to this day There have been changes from one thing to another but the restauration hath not been known The whorish spirit hath been hunted puriued and so run out of one form into another traversing her way and changing her ground and garments but hath not been taken and judged to the death and the true spirit hath not been able to find the bed of her husband but hath wandered from mountain to hil all the time of this cloudy and dark day forgetting her resting place Yet though the whole earth was corrupted and false doctrine and worship set up every where among the Nations which continued the fornication and whoredom from the spirit of life in the publick wayes and national worships notwithstanding this even all this while God reserved a seed to himselfe which he caused to spring up in a remnant and which he moved and carried on to witnesse against somewhat of these corruptions in their several ages and generations And as fast as the beast killed and knocked down these God raised up more yea though the whorish spirit in some Nations painted her self curioussy leaving some of the grosse Doctrines and Worships of Popery and got into a more refined way yet God raised up witnesses against her there also and still doth into what form soever she gets for though of late she hath decked her self very pleasingly as she think and covered her selfe round with scripture-words and professions and practises as like as ever she can form them to the practises of former Saints yet quick and lively is the spirit of God that searcheth after her who hath found her out and raised up witnesses against her there also Now this seed this remnant though they were not able to recover the possession of the life and power that was lost yet they had a true taste of it and their testimony which they gave out from that taste was true and so far as they kept to this testimony in the faith and in the patience which they had learned and received from God though but in a low measure they were accepted of him So that all were not lost in this night of darkness but such as feared God and knew and hearkned to his voice had the testimony of his presence with them and tasted of his life and power in measure God was not an hard master to them but tender and gentle and contented to reap what he sowed But the appearance of God in this dark time was weak and low and easie to be made a prey of And this is very observable that so long as the simplicity ran pure it was preserved but so soon as ever the spirit of man was tempted either into any old or into any new invented form the wisdom of the flesh got in with it grew up more than it and when it had gathered strength corrupted the vessel betrayed the simplicity and lost the life Thus many pretious beginnings and buddings forth of life have been betrayed in these late daies There was a pretious thing stirring in Queen Maries dayes the life whereof was more hurt and suppressed by that dead form of Episcopacy succeeding afterwards then by the foregoing persecution The persecution did clear and brighten it but the fleshly form of Episcopacy brought death over it And the forms of Presbytery Independency Anabaptism have been little lesse then graves to bury and keep down the life How many spirits that had a precious savour in them at their entrance into those forms did soon become fleshly earthly and very unsavory loosing the quicknesse and freshness that was in them before and falling into the deadness of the form withering with it And as touching the Ministry though in it self it was evill being in the degeneration from the true Ministry all this time of the Apostacy and the persons therein for the most very corrupt being brought up to it as to a trade and making use of it as a trade yet I do believe that there was a simplicity of heart in some persons among them which did cause them in some degree of faithfulnesse to seek the Lord his service and the good of souls And in the time of ignorance and darkness it pleased God to wink at and over-look the evill and to cause good to passe from the good in them to the good in others through the evil that hung about both And this was the great tenderness of the Lord in pitty to his poor creatures who were very destitute to help in the thick night of darkness and should not now be made use of to justifie and keep up the evil Do ye thus requite the Lord O foolish people and unkind Because his mercy and goodness extended to you notwithstanding the evil which might have hindered will ye make that an argument to keep up the evill and to oppose the light which discovers it Because God causeth light to shine through the darkness and visiteth man in the dark wil ye therfore set up the darkness as his proper way of ministration The corrupt way call and exercise of the corrupt ministry could not keep out the tender love of God but he had respect to the simplicity of some who were found in it and to the simplicity of others who waited on him for instruction there and did please to give some answer to both And will ye make this uningenious use of it to interpret it as his approbation of that ministry which sprung up in the Apostacy from him among those that were apostatised and is a great dishonour to him and the abhorring of his soul A ministry of Christ a ministry set up by his spirit is precious but a ministry made by man according to his will and ministring in his wisdom the soul of the Lord beareth as a burthen and is pressed with it and as he raiseth up his own life wil ease himself of it And what do they minister from but the literal
of bread Idolatry Answ The praying which God appointed is not Idolatry Praying in the Spirit of God when he moves and according to the will of God which is onely known in the Spitit is not Idolatry but thy praying in thine own spirit and at thine own times and according to thine own wil perhaps in way of imitation of the Jewish morning and evening Sacrifices this is Idolatry This is that which thou hást set up in stead of that which God set up and so it is not the true thing which God set up but an Idol of thine own making and so thou worshippest not God therein but that spirit which helped thee to invent and set up the Idol The same might be said concerning preaching singing washing with water breaking of bread and what ever else is practised in Religion upon these terms Object But doth not the Scripture mention these things and did not the Saints practise these things surely they were not Idolaters Can I be an Idolater in practising that which they practised Answ Nay thou art mistaken they are not the things which they practised The stress of their Religion lay in the life of it in the presence of the spirit of God in it it was his breath made it the truth Now if thou couldst have the same things that they had yet without the same living breath they would be but dead things but Idols But thou hast not the true form of things neither thou hast not the true Church the true Ministry the true Ordinances according to the form but things set up in their stead by the invention of man in the time of the Apostacy from the true things and what can these be but Idols The world wondered after the beast and they worshipped the Dragon which gave power unto the beast and they worshipped the beast Rev. 13. 3 4. Behold what was worshipped at the time of the Apostacy That which arose from the beastly invention of man and not from the true spirit of life And the inventing and setting up of these and worshipping according to these inventions is worshipping the Dragon for he getteth in and lodgeth in mans inventions and not the living God And therfore God at the end of this Apostacy raiseth up a new ministry to recal the Nations from worshipping the Dragon to the worship of God again ver 6. 7. of that Chapter What the Gentiles sacrificed of old they sacrificed to Devils and not to God 1 Cor. 10. 20. And what the late Gentiles sacrifice I mean Christians in the heathenish nature Christians to whom the outward court was given Rev. 11. 2. and who have not a profession of the Saints words and practises but without life they sacrifice not to God neither but to that spirit that helped them to invent and form a likenesse or image of the truth Transgressing the principle of God within they go from God and from his worship and the Devil who went out from the truth gets in and they go into his power and whatever they perform in worship there is to him for when they go from the principle of God in them the Devil gets into their hearts and God goes out and his true life power and worship is not known but an image or likeness which the Devil sets up in stead of the true thing So then in that state let men consider what they worship for there they cry up ordinancies and duties and kill one another about them thinking that they worship and honour God thereby but know not nor are come to that wherein God alone can be worshipped and honoured I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews and are not saith the spirit Rev. 2. 9. is this blasphemy For a man to call himself a Christian who is not what is that to call that a Church which is not what is that to call him a Minister of Christ who is not what is that to call those the Ordinances of Christ which are not what is that to call that faith which is not that justification which is not c. what is that Can ye spy out the blasphemer ye have made a great out-cry against him long are ye willing now he should be put to death The Lord hath lighted his candle he is searching for him and he will find him out and as he have desired so it shall be the Lord will not spare him O be awakened be awakened ye heathenish Christians Open the eye that can see and behold where ye are and what ye are doing and how fast ye are running into the pit Ye have forgotten God ye have lost the true line of judgement ye have lost the key of knowledg and the light that is in you is darkness and leads to darkness though ye cannot possibly believe it Oh come back to the remembrance of God and and to true holinesse without which no man shall see him for the wicked shall be turned into hel and all the Nations that forget God and ye have forgotten him days without number Position V. THat the onely way of recovery out of the Apostacy is by returning to and keeping in that spirit from which the Apostacy was The Apostacy came by leaving the spirit of God and running after another spirit and the recovery must be by leaving that other Spirit and returning to the spirit of God again How did Christians formerly begin their Religion They began in the Spirit Gal 3. 3. and so they were to go on to perfection and not intermix any thing of the flesh And had the anointing been kept to Antichrist and the mystery of iniquity had been kept out and where that is returned to the Antichristian spirit is purged out by degrees and the wayes thereof discovered and forsaken Therefore know the whorish Spirit in thy self which is busy to form likenesses in thy mind to seduce thee and to make thee fall in love with the likenesses which she hath formed in other mens minds and let her not deceive thee with her paint and gawdy appearances but know likewise the little seed of life from which truth springs up in thee and in which the spirit of truth dwels and is to be found and take heed least the serpentine wisdom teach thee to despise and turn from it From this spring it was that truth sprung up in the witnesses all the time of the Apostacy for they had their testimony from the spirit of Prophesie Rev. 19. 10. So far as they kept to that they gave a true testimony so far as their own spirits mixed with it they corrupted it But to abide in that was very hard and there was need of much affliction and persecution to keep the flesh down and to preserve the life pure But as the life springs up more strongly and overcomes that spirit inwardly I mean the wise fleshly spirit there wil be less need of outward afflictions or persecutions yea or inward either but there will be a safe
of iniquity doth already work And look now into the estate of the Churches then according to what the Scripture records of them and the symptoms of its working will plainly appear The Church of Ephesus among whom some of the grievous wolves had encred Act. 20. 29. had left their first love Rev. 2. 4. The Churches of Galatia wer bewitched from the Gospel Gal 3. 1. The Church at Coloss was entangled and made subject to the rudiments of the world and ordinances which perish with the using after the commandements and doctrines of men Col 2. v. 20 22. Mark When once one comes to be subject to the commandments and doctrines of men to perishing ordinances and worldly rudiments which men teach and command the true state is lost and the apostacy is entred into Here the wrong Teacher is teaching and he teacheth the wrong thing the wrong doctrines the wrong Commandments and the wrong ear is hearing which hears the wrong voice and knoweth not the true and so the more it heareth and practiseth and the hotter its zeal groweth the deeper it stil runs into the apostacy The Church at Corinth also was haunted with false Apostles 2 Cor. 11. v. 12 13. insomuch as the Apostle was afraid lest that Church should be corrupted by them vers 3. The Church in Pergamus had them that held the doctrine of Balaam Rev. 2. 14. The Church in Thyatira suffered the woman Jezebel which called her selfe a Prophetess to seduce and bring forth children in the apostacy Rev. 2. v. 20. and 23. The Church in Sardis had a name to live but was dead Rev. 3. 1. having defiled her Garments vers 4. The Church in Laodicea looked upon her self as rich and increased with goods as having need of nothing but was wretched miserable poor blind so then the ey was put out and naked wanting the gold wanting the rayment wanting the eye-salve Rev. 3. 17. 18. And lastly all the Gentiles were warned by Paul in his Epistle to the Church at Rome whereby that Church might look upon her selfe as more particularly concerned therein to look to their standing lest they falling from the faith from the truth from the life into the apostacy as the Jewes had done might also feel the severity of God as the Jewes had Chap. 11. ver 20 21 22. Thus it is evident that the apostacy had got footing and began to spread in the Apostles dayes and the Apostle John in the spirit beholding the future state of things sees it overspread and over-run al al Nations drunk with the cup of fornication Rev. 18. 3. The way of truth had been evil spoken of long before 2 Pet. 2. 2 and the rock of ages which alone can establish in the truth had been forsaken and al became as a Sea and up gets the beast which could not rise while the power of truth stood and the woman upon the beast with the cup of deceit and of errour from the life in her hand and this she gives all the Nations to drink and they drink and are drunk with it so that al Nations have been intoxicated with the doctrines and practises of apostacy They have took that for truth which the Whore told them was truth and they have observed those things as the commands of God which the Whore told them were the commands of God And by this means they have never come to be married to Christ to be in union with him to receive the law of life from his spirit and to know the liberty from the bondage of corruption but have been in the bed of fornication with the Whore and have pleased glutted and satisfied the whorish principle in themselves with this fornication And thus corruption did over-spread al the earth for taking in a corrupt thing in stead of the truth it cannot purifie the heart but corrupt it more A corrupt profession corrupt doctrines may paint and make a man to himselfe seem changed but the corruption still lodges within which a spiritual ey can easily discern though he that is in the corruption cannot The Pharisees did seem glorious to themselves but Christ saw through them And every sort of people now in their several strains and forms of apostacy seem glorious to themselves but the spirit of Christ sees through them al to that which lies underneath in whom it raigns and ther it finds corruption increased and strengthned in its nature by the form though outwardly painted with it Doth not fornication defile corrupt so doth the fornication of the Whorish spirit the earth was corrupted with it Rev. 19. 2. So that this hath been the universal state of Christendom since the apostacy the errour the deceit the fornication of the Whore hath corrupted them and withheld their eys from the sight of that life and truth which hath power in it to purifie them Peoples Multitudes Nations Tongues have been al waters weak unstable without any foundation in religion but fit to be swayed and tossed up and down with every wind or breath of the Whore of whose cup they had al drunk and by whose spirit they were all guided for the whore sate upon them Rev. 17. 15. The whore which had whored from God and so was not the true Church sate upon Peoples Multitudes Nations and Tongues She sate upon them she had them under her she ruled and guided them by her cup of fornication and with her spirit of fornication as a man would guide the beast whereupon he rides So that al that the Nations do from henceforth in religion is under the Whore according to her guidance by virtue of the wine that they have drunk out of her cup. And though God reserved to himselfe a remnant to worship him and give so ne testimony to his truth al this time yet the beast which was managed by the Whore had power over them power to make war with them power to overcome them Rev. 13. 7. The beast had power over all kindreds tongues and nations every wher to overcome the Saints and suppresse the truth they at any time were moved to give testimony to and to set up the worship of the beast and make al the earth fal down before that Rev. 13. 7. 8. And the second beast had and exercised al the power of the first beast and set up his image and gave it life and caused men generally to worship it Rev. 13. 12. And he caused al both smal and great rich and poor free and bond to receive his mark some way or other either in their right hand or in their forehead vers 16. And such as would not receive his mark nor worship him he had power to persecute and kil and he did kil them vers 15. and the Whore drunk their blood Chap. 17. 6. and God required it at her hand Chap. 19. 2. though she made the hand of the beast execute it and would seem to wash her own hands of it So that now since the dayes of the
worship not God they honor not the Scriptures but they honor and worship the work of their own brain And every Scripture which man hath thus formed a meaning out of and hath not read in the true and living lights of Gods eternal spirit he hath made an image by he hath made an idol of and the respect and honor he gives this meaning is not a respect and honor given to God but to his own image to his own idol Oh how many are your idols ye Christians of England as ye think your selves to be how many are your idols ye gathered Churches how full of images and idols are ye ye spiritual Notionists who have run from one thing to another with the same mind and spirit wherewith ye began at first But the founder of images hath never been discovered and destroyed in you and so he is still at work among you all and great will your sorrow and distress be when the Lords quick eye searcheth him out and revealeth his just wrath against him In my heart and soul I honor the Scriptures and long to read them throughout with the pure eye and in the pure light of the living spirit of God but the Lord preserve me from reading one line of them in my own-will or interpreting any part of them according to my own understanding but only as I am guided led and enlightened by him in the will and understanding which comes from him And here all Scripture every writing of Gods spirit which is from the breath of his life profitable to build up and perfect the man of God but the instructions the reproofs the observations the rules the grounds of hope and comfort or whatever else which man gathers out of the Scriptures he himself being out of the life have not the true profit nor build not up the true thing but both the gatherings and the gatherer are for destruction And the Lord will ease the Scripture of the burthen of mans formings and inventions from it and recover its honor again by the living presence and power of that spirit that wrote it And then it shall be no longer abused and wrested by mans earthly and unlearned mind but in the hand of the spirit come to its true use and service to the seed and to the world 2. The true worship was lost The true worship of God in the Gospel is in the spirit 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 Joh. 4. 23. The true worship is in the spirit and in the truth and the true worshippers worship there and such worshippers the Father seeks and such worship he accepts but all other worship is false worship and all other worshippers are false worshippers such worshippers as God seeks not nor can accept their worship Did God refuse Cains sacrifice formerly and can he accept any sacrifice or worship now that 's offered in that nature why he that worships out of the spirit he worships in that nature But he that worships aright must have his nature changed and must worship in that thing wherein he is changed in that faith in that life in that nature in that spirit whereby and whereto he is changed For without being in this and keeping in this it is impossible to please God in any thing He that is the true worshipper is a believer and in his worship he must keep to his rule the law of faith the law of the spirit of life in him the law which he receives by faith fresh from the spirit of life continually He must heat and observe the voice of the living word in all his worship and worship in the presence and power and guidance of that as that moves and as that carries on or it is not worship in the spirit I shall instance only in prayer Praying alwaies with all prayer and supplication in the spirit Ephes 6. 18. Mark all prayer and supplication must be in the spirit yea it must be alwaies in the spirit which speaks in the heart to God and makes the intercession or is is no prayer If a man speak never so much from his own spirit with never so much earnestness and affection yet it is no prayer no true prayer but only so far as the spirit moves to it and so farr as the spirit leads and guids in it If a man begin without the spirit or go on without the spirit this is out of the worship this is in his own will and so will-worship and according to his own understanding and so fleshly worship both which are to be crucified and not to be followed in any thing under the Gospel Wee are the Circumcision which worship God in the spirit here are the true worshippers the circumcision and here 's the true worship in the spirit and they have no bounds and limits in the flesh wherein their strength and confidence is broke and have no confidence in the flesh If a man address himself to any worship of God without his spirit hath he not confidence in the flesh If he begin without the ving of his spirit doth he not begin in the flesh if he go on without the spirits carrying on doth he not proceed in the strength and confidence of the flesh But the worship of the spirit is in its will and in its time and is carried on by its light and power and keeps down the understanding and affectionate part of man wherein all the world worship and offer up the unaccepted sacrifices even the lame and the blinde which Gods soul hates Now this worship as it is out of mans will and time and in that which continueth so it is continual There is a continual praying unto God There is a continual blessing and praising of his name in eating or drinking or what ever else is done There is a continual bowing to the majesty of the Lord in every thought in every word in every action though it be in worldly things and occasions yet the spirit of the Lord is seen there and the tongue confesseth him there and the knee boweth to him there this is the true worship And this is the rest or sabbath wherein the true worshippers worship When the creation of God is finished when the child is formed in the light and the life breathed into him then God brings him forth into his holy Land where he keeps his Sabbath They that are in the faith which is the substance of the things hoped for under the Law are come from all the shadows and types of the Law and from all heathenish observation of dayes and times in the spirit of this world where the spirit of man is hard at work into the true Sabbath into the true rest where they have no more to work but God works all in them in his owntime and according to his own pleasure We which have believed do enter into rest Ebr.
to this covenant he saves Man by his disunion and distance from God he perisheth by being brought again to God he lives again which thing Christ effecteth by the new covenant So then he that is not lead by Christ into that covenant is not in the state of salvation 3. That the new covenant is written in the heart or there is no other way of coming into the new covenant whereof Christ is the High-priest and Mediator but by having the Laws of God written in the heart This is the covenant c. I will put my Laws into their minde and write them in their hearts c. they shall not teach every man his neighbour and every man his brother saying know the Lord for all shall know me from the least to the greatest Heb. 8. 10. 11. He is speaking of the covenant whereof Christ is mediator ver 6. which he cals a new covenant ver 8. and saith it is not like the old ver 9. instancing in two main particulars wherein it is very unlike 1. The old was writ outwardly in letters to be read by the outward ey but this is writ inwardly in the heart and minde and so can only be read by a spiritual ey 2. Under the old they needed teaching from men the priests lips were to preserve knowledge and they were to seek the law at his mouth but now they should have the law so neer them so cleerly written in them that they should need none to teach them From the law is the knowledge of God the law is in the heart and from the law in the heart springs up the knowledge of God in the least and in the greatest that are within this covenant that they need not say know the Lord. This is the state of the new covenant which the Christians came to in those dayes 1 Joh. 2. ver 27. but it hath been a strange thing in this dark night of Apostacy and is yet a strange thing to many But let such consider can a man be a Christian and be out of that covenant whereof Christ is the mediator Can a man be brought back again to God by Christ and yet be out of that covenant whereby Christ brings men back to God O how hath Satan deluded poor souls in this thick night of darkness to make men believe they have faith in Christ and shall be saved thereby while they are quite ignorant of and strangers to that covenant whereby Christ the mediat or saves They shall all know me from the least to the greatest Marke there is not the least in this covenant but hath the law so written in his heart that he need not seek out for knowledge 4. That the spirit of God alone can write the covenant in the heart or that Christ writes the covenant by his spirit Man by all his wisdom cannot attain it Man is driven out from God and cannot finde the way back again to him without the teachings and leadings of Gods own spirit It is not the being educated in any way of Religion from ones childhood or the leaving of that and running into any sect afterwards that will avail any thing hereto but the alone hearkening to the true voice of the true spirit It is written in the Prophets concerning the children of this covenant that they shall be all taught of God And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord. It is the Lord alone who by his spirit teacheth them to come to Christ and to receive the new covenant into their hearts from Christ For man is in an incapacity to know or receive Christ or his covenant until the spirit hath fitted and taught him John 14. 17. but when he hath prepared and fitted his heart then with his own finger he writeth the pure law of the nature and life of Christ therein by the receit where of he cometh out of his old dark spirit and nature into the true knowledge of God and union with him I will put my spirit within you Ezek. 36. 27. This is part of the covenant and indeed that part whereby all the rest is wrought 5. Therefore the first proper step in Religion is to know how to meet with Gods spirit There is no progress no true progress to be made in the true Religion till a man comes into the covenant and there is no coming into the covenant but by the spirit therefore the first thing that is absolutely necessary to be known in Religion is the spirit his writing or at least his motions and stirrings in the heart It may further be evidenced thus all things in Religion acceptable to God flow from the spirit All knowledge is to come from him for he alone hath revealed and can reveal truth and is appointed by Christ to lead into all truth All worship is to be offered up in him they that worship the father must worship him in the spirit and in the truth for the father seeketh such to worship him but rejecteth all other worshippers and worship how glorious soever their worship may seem to them Particularly praying is alwayes to be in the spirit Ephes 6. 18. Jude 20. so singing c. yea the whole life and conversation is to be in the spirit Galath 5. 25. The mortifying of all corruption is to be done by the spirit If ye through the spirit mortify the deeds of the body ye shall live Rom. 8. 13. Indeed a Christian is nothing and can do nothing without the power and presence of the spirit of God in him So then if nothing in Religion can be done with acceptance to God without the spirit then the spirit is the first thing to be looked after by him who would be truly and well-groundedly religious 6. The first way of meeting with the spirit of God is as a Convincer of sin Here is the true enterance This is the Key that opens into life eternal He that can receive it let him It is not by soring alost into high imaginations and forms of worship but by coming down to this low thing This is the first and most proper work of the spirit of God toward fallen man whereby he makes way toward the writing of Gods Law in the heart namely to convince of sin And where should man look first to meet with him but in his first work upon him When Christ promised the comforter the spirit of truth he said this concerning him that he should convince the world of sin John 16. 8. They who are created a new in Christ and become his Disciples receive comfort from the spirit but what is he to the world or how may they feel any operation of him why he is to them a convincer of sin and they may finde him checking them for and convincing them of their sins So that the great work for man while he lies in the darkness for when he is translated into the light it will be easy is to know how to distinguish the movings and
he that believes hath the witness in himself and he that believes sets to his seale that God is true who hath sent his Son to inlighten him him by whom the World was made in whom was life and his life was the light of men and this is it which shines in darkness and the darkness cannot comprehend it And there is the state of all confusion and Sects and opinions upon the earth the darkness professing Christs the Prophets the Apostles Davids Abrahams and the Saints words and yet the darkness cannot comprehend the light which Christ hath inlightned them withall so the darkness is not in unity with Abrahams Davids Christs and the Apostles words but be all on heaps about them Therefore as light shines out of darkness shining in the heart giving the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ the end of the Prophets Abrahams Moses Davids and the Apostles words Christ Jesus is known in whom is the unity and reconciliation and no darkness at all but unity with God and with his Prophets words and his Apostles and servants before Abraham was in this unity all come into life and light to the spirits of just men made perfect And to you this is the word of the Lord God and to your age and generation the cause of all deceit and strife upon the earth is because men have been in transgression Heathens Jews and Gentiles from Christ the light under the devils power out of truth the cause of all Christians being on heaps one with another and their bad conversation that the heathen cries shame of them hath been because they have been out of the light which they have professed in which they should have served God and had unity with Scriptures and one with another and with God and with that answer the principle of God in all upon the the earth and not by serving Jdols because of the vanities of their minds and unconverted state so all upon the earth that sets up likenesses and Jmages are under vanities because of the corruption of their own minds and the vanity of them But the day of restauration is come into Christ the light and covenant of God and all upon the earth that sets up Jmages and Jdols liknesses and serves dead works and hath a dead faith and not the faith of Abraham the faith of the elect that gives every one to see Christ and have accesse to God and such need not to have any dead thing to put them in minde of him so all that set up such things whatsoever likenesses and Jmages doth the light which Christ hath inlightned them withall bring them off from into light and covenant with God loving it unto salvation and to see it and to covenant with God there is every ones teacher loving it there is every ones condemnation hating it and they there with the light that every one is inlightned withall shall come to see the Prophet raised up and there none shall be cut of that do hear this Prophet and there every one shall have his reward according to his works from the Son who hath inlightned them who is come to judge the World in righteousness who is now set down upon his Throne So all Nations are called are commanded to come in and to hear the Son of God and learn of the Son of God hear the beloved Son of God and cease from all them that are made of men and by men that they may come to hear the Son of God themselves and receive the Son of God and receiving him they receive life by whom the World was made coming into the light that he is enlightned withall then every one may freely declare what he sees and hears and handels and every one sees him by whom the World was made who is the light and life and resurrection and wisdom and sanctification and justification from all things in which light the covenant of God you have peace with God that you may see him to the beginning G. F. An addition concerning the doctrine of Justification BEcause the doctrine of Justification is of great concernment and the enemy of mankind hath exceedingly endeavoured to corrupt it and in the Apostacy hath greatly prevailed and the darkness which springs up in the fleshly wisdom is exceeding thick at the day concerning this thing therefore in true love to souls it is laid upon me to search into the Scriptures which chiefly speaks thereof and from thence to clear it up to such who are not yet come to the life that gave forth the Scriptures The Apostle Paul doth largely and fully treat of it in his Epistle to the Romans and lays down several things concerning it which if wel heeded may dash mens present apprehensions about it and bring them to wait for the opening of those Scriptures to them in another light then you have yet known 1. He affirms that Justification is not by the deeds of the Law Ro. 3. 20. If a man could say with the young man All these things have I done from my youth or as Paul that he was as touching the Law blameless yet could he not be justified thereby And the Apostle gives a mighty reason for by the law is the knowledg of sin Now Justification is not by the making of sinne known but by that which saves and delivers from it The knowledg of sin may put a man upon seeking out for justification but it cannot justifie him but rather condemn him but that which delivers him from the sin which the law makes known that justifies him 2. He affirms that the righteousness of God which is the justification is manifested without the law v. 21. The Law makes sin known and shews the sinner the need of justification but the justification it self is not thereby but is manifested without it The Law commands the nature to act that pertains to similitudes figures and types and shadows to the obedience of them but the seed takes away the nature that pertains to similitudes and shadows and the works of the law so to the obedience of those things the law commands there is justification by the law in the obedience to the works it commands but the justification Christ removes the nature that pertains to those things the law commands so that justification the law ends in Christ 3. That this righteousness or justification is witnessed by the law and the Prophets v. 21. The law though it is not the justification nor can the justification be by obedience to it or by the deeds of it yet it gives testimony to the justification for the substance of what the law and all the Prophets witness is that nothing can justifie but the righteousness of God 4. That this righteousness or justification is by the faith of Christ v. 22. by believing or entring into that which justifies As condemnation was by unbelier by joyning unto and entring into the spirit of enmity so justification is by joyning
unto entring into the spirit of love by true union with Christ in the spirit which union is by the faith which comes from Christ 5. That this justification or righteousness is upon all that believe v. 22. He that receiveth the faith believeth and he that believeth hath the righteousness and he that believeth not cannot have the righteousness but the condemnation wrath abideth on him 6. That this justification is freely by the grace v. 24. There is no way to come to this righteousness but by the gift of grace which gift is given freely Therefore if ever man wil be justified he must know the grace and the gift which comes from the grace and receive it receiving it he cannot miss of justification and not receiving it but either being ignorant of it or resisting of it he cannot possibly be justified 7. That this justification is by the redemption in Christ v. 24. Christ is redeemer the redemption wherein is the justification is in him and there is no way of meeting with the justification or redemption but by receiving of him in whom it is and he who hath him hath the justification and is made partaker of the redemption and he who hath not him hath it not Mark then the justification or redemption is not by believing of a thing done without man though that also is to be believed but by receiving of him into the heart For the virtue of all Christ did without is within him I cannot be made partaker by believing that he did such a thing without or that he did it for me but by receiving the virtue of it into me and feeling the virtue of it in me This is that which saves me and makes that which was done without to be mine 8. That Christ is the propitiation v. 25. or that which pacifies and makes way for sinners to God so that he that truly receiveth Christ hath the atonement but he that hath not received him only dreameth of peace with God but stil remaineth in the enmity and is liable to the wrath having the bond of iniquity over him and is in the night 9. That this Propitiation is by faith in the blood v. 25. There is nothing pacifies God but the blood of his Son and thre is nothing feels the blood but the faith and that which is in the faith A man may read Scriptures and gather notions about justification and think he believes a right and shal be justified but he never comes to feel the blood nor the life which is in the blood till he receive the faith and then he knoweth the true propitiation and the true peace which before he did but talk of 10. That this faith is the righteousness Faith is the gift of God and this gift justifies this gift is the justification this is that which God imputeth for righteousness ch 4 v. 3. 5. The faith is in the blood and the blood is in the Son and in the true receiving of the Son both the faith and the blood are known and felt These are true words though hard to the fleshly ear do not stumble in the wisdom but calmly wait for the revelation of the spirit and then thou wilt say the price of this knowledg is not to be valued if once thou come to tast truth here all thy knowledg in the letter wil be but dross with thee Ye are come to the blood of sprinkling O do not rest in an outward way of believing an outward thing but seek out the way of coming to the blood of sprinkling 11. That the justification is of the ungodly v. 5. He whom God maketh righteous was ungodly before he made him righteous There was nothing but unrighteousness could be imputed to him in transgression before he gave him his Son and made him righteous in his Son for nothing is righteous with God but Christ and man only as he taken into his righteousnes which is done not by a believing from the bare leter but by a receiving of faith in the life 12. That the justification of the ungodly is by believing in him that justifieth v. 5. The gift of faith goes forth from him is received into the heart now both by the gift it self and by the exercise of it is the justification by receiving of the gift is the person justified by the exercise of the gift are all his actions justified Christ being let in to the heart justifies the heart into which he is received and Christ being in the heart justifies every motion and action that comes from his life and any other motion or action is not justified for it is out of that which is justified and is in and from that which is condemned Abraham believed God and it was counted anto him for righteousness v. â— God promised him a seed he believed God God bid him sacrifice this type he believed This was it was imputed to him for righteousness Now if he had not believed if he had not received the gift or not exercised the gift could he have been righteous so that Abraham was not justified by any work he did or could do but by receiving and exercising the faith in the seed by going out of his country kindred and fathers house not of himself but by faith and by living to God and obeying his voice in that land to which he was led not in his own wil or power but in the faith And by hearing the call of God and receiving the faith and living out of self out of a mans own understanding wil and power in the faith and living power and wisdom of God is the justification now and they that do thus are the children of Abraham born of the free woman when as they that take up practises from the letter without being ingraffed into the life are but children of the bond woman but such children of Abraham as the Jews were if so much and can not inherit that promise which belongs to the spiritual seed while they live in that state 13. That wher the faith which is imputed unto righteousness is found there sin is not imputed but covered which is a blessed state v. 6 7 8. Sin cuts off from God who is life blessedness sin laies open to the wrath of the creator which is too great for the creator to bear woe and misery wil be his portion to whom God imputes sin But happy is he who has his sin covered this is an happy condition life and immortality will soon be opened to him Now this blessedness cometh not by the works of the law for they cannot remove the sin but by the righteousness of faith which is able to cover the sin even from the pure ey of God O Christians christians do not imagine your selves covered from sin but know it feel it never rest till ye are so made partakers of the true righteousness that by its virtue in you ye may be past all doubt that it is it