fit and prepare us for the everlasting Kingdom of God they that do wait upon God shall see this work wrought inwardly in them they know more by Faith than they can see by Sense I know and am certain that the Power the Devil hath in the World shall be broken down and Righteousness shall be exalted and justice and equity shall prevail in the Nations I shall not perhaps live to see it but I may see it by Faith I may see enough for my generation and they that live in the next generation shall see it also for the Church of God is the same from one generation to another Now unto us it is given to see the things that in former generations were Prophesied of God having saith the Apostle Provided some better thing for us â—hat they without us should no be made perfect The Church of God from one Generaâ—ion to another have their measure and deâ—ree of service and bear their proper Testiâ—ony and leave the rest to succeding Geneâ—ations it concerns us in our Generation to â—ee a change made inwardly in our Souls and â—he Kingdom of Christ set up within us and â—he Kingdom of Satan brought down in our â—elves This doth not concern my Son or Grandson only but it concerns me and when they grow up to mature Age in their â—ime it will concern them therefore that which is most profitable to us is that we have such a station and stand in such a place â—n our time where we may see the work of God carried on I have considered many a time that there are many brave Men and Women in this Age that might have been eminent Witnesses of God in the World and born their Testimony to his truth but their Faith hath been weak and ineffectual they have discovered their unbelieving hearts and have joyned with the common herd of the World because they thought such great things could never be done that the Kingdom of Satan could never be pulled down and destroyed and the Kingdom of Christ set up within us But I would hope better things of you things that accompany Salvation and that he that hath begun a good work in you will carry it on to perfection that Living Praises and joyful Thanksgivings may be rendered to him who alone is worthy who is God over all blessed for ever to whom be Glory and Dominion for ever and ever Amen Sermon VII The undefiled Way to Eternal Rest Preached at Devonshire-House July the 29th 1691. My Friends THE Lord will be with all his People that are undefiled in the Way â—hat are Spiritual Travellers walking in â—hat undefiled Way that leads to an â—ndefiled Rest There are some that by â—his Way are enter'd into Rest that Rest â—hich God hath prepared for them We â—annot apply to our selves that promise that 〈◊〉 made to us of entring into Rest unless we â—e real and true Travellers in the Way that â—ads to it for if we do We deceive our â—wn Souls Therefore you that have had a Sight and Vision of the Way Everlasting that leadâ— unto a Holy Rest you are Engag'd Peoplâ— to make straight steps therein and to have iâ— your daily Care and make it your continual Business to look that your Goings and Foot-steps are of the same nature and kinâ— that the Rest is that you desire to enter into For it is an undefiled Rest that we all are or ought to be Travelling after thereforâ— every one of us must be undefiled in the Way and every Foot-step must be of the same kinâ— and nature and separate from all that whicâ— defileth it and polluteth it that so it maâ— have a tendency to the bringing of the Soâ— nearer to its Rest This Holy Rest many Travellers have aâ—tained by this Holy Travel and many aâ— still in hope to attain it But now they that are full of hope of â—taining this Rest but their Foot-steps aâ— Goings are not of the same nature and kind they are not holy and pure they are not uâ— defiled These have not their Faces truâ— Sion-ward though the Face of their Profâ—sion may stand that way but the Loâ— looks at the Heart of every one and 〈◊〉 knows which way the Heart stands thâ— who have their Hearts truly turned to tâ— Lord they have the mark of Holiness 〈◊〉 their Eye and the mark of purity and righteousness in all their Undertakings because they know there is no attaining to that Divine Rest but by a Holy Way and Travel therefore their trust and reliance is alone on the Lord that is to keep them in all their Way for if they be never so clearly convinced that Holiness and Righteousness is their Duty and is the way whereby they may attain to the Kingdom of God though they are never so fully convinc'd of it yet there lies an impossibility of any walking therein without the Divine Assistance of the Grace of God for though they have been convinc'd by the appearance of his Grace and have had a light that openeth to them a sight of these things it is not this Sight and Vision that will enable them To run the Race that is set before them For the manifold impurities and hindrances which are in our Way between our coming out of Egypts Land the Bondage of Corruption and our entring into the Kingdom of God are too mighty and too great for any Man with his knowledge and strength to overcome The Children of Israel might as well have gone through the Red Sea without the help of God as the Christian Traveller can go through the many difficulties and the many impediments that he is to meet with in his Way without the assistance of God's holy Spirit My Friends It hath been a Labour and Travel at this time upon my Mind that all whom God hath so signally Blessed with the Knowledge of the Truth that you may see your Way and most clearly know and understand that your Way leads to Life Eternal that all and every one of you in your particular Meetings are to have a dependance upon that which can help you in your Way For I have seen too many that have had a wrong dependance after they were rightly Convinc'd and after they have had a true knowledge of their Way wherein they should walk they have too much trusted to openings and sights which they have receiv'd they have thought their Mountain so sure and that their Feet have been past sliding that there hath grown up a state of presumption that they have thought they should never turn aside and have not had due regard to the renewing of the divine Power of God in their Souls that God's Children always musâ— have They have as I may so say forgotten what our Lord said Without mâ— ye can do nothing they have passed a Sentence upon that Doctrine in their minds and they have thought they could do something that they could withstand Temptation that they could do some Work for God and Service
THE Second Volume OF Mr. Stephen Crisp's SERMONS THE acceptance which the First Volume of the Sermons of this Author has obtained from Persons of different Perswasions hath occasioned the Publishing a Second of which many seem very desirous I shall say no more of thew let the Works speak for themselves but will only add that the Writer is still willing to satisfie any Inquisitive Doubter none of whom he has hitherto met with that these as well as the former are the Genuine Declarations of Mr. Stephen Crisp without any addition or alteration he having used the utmost exactness in taking and Transcribing them and his care and acuracy therein has been acknowledged and confirmed by many Ear-Witnesses who have heard them from the mouth of the Preacher THE Second Volume OF THE Sermons OR DECLARATIONS OF Mr. Stephen Crisp Late of Colchester in Essex Deceased Exactly taken in Characters or Short-hand as they were Delivered by him at the Publick Meeting-Houses of the People called QUAKERS In Grace-Church-street and Devonshire-House London And now Faithfully Transcribed and Published With some of his Prayers after Sermon LONDON Printed for Nath. Crouch at the Bell in the Poultrey near Cheapside 1693 Sermon I. Truths Testimony against the Power of Sin and Satan Preached in Grace-Church-Street June 13. 1688. My Friends GOD hath made you Witnesses of the great Work of this Day the Lord I say hath given you Eyes to see and Ears to hear and Hearts to understand the great Work of the Day he hath called you forth that you may be faithful Witnesses every one in your measure of that which he hath brought to pass in your sight for he hath revealed his Power the Eternal Power by which the World was made he hath revealed and manifested that power for the raising up of Life for the subjecting and bringing under death and the Power of it for a great while a Testimony that hath been born in the Nation hath been unto Death he that hath the Power of Death that is the Devil he hath had a great many to sound out his Power to declare the continuance of his Power how that Death must Reign and Darkness must continue and that the Kingdom of the Man of Sin will never be brought down But now in our Day Glory to God on high here is another sound come forth the Lord Jehovah hath uttered his voice and who can but Prophesie The word of Prophecy is given of God and many are raised up to publish it and to sound forth the Name of the Lord in the Expiration the Ruine and Destruction that is and shall be brought upon the Kingdom of Iniquity upon the Kingdom of the Man of Sin and to Prophesie and declare in the name of the Lord that Righteousness shall run down like a stream this is the Gospel the glad tidings that we receive from God and have ministred unto you that you might believe and that believing you might come to wait upon the Lord and behold the accomplishment of it For my Friends herein hath consisted all the labour and travel and exercise of the Servants of the Lord and for this cause have we suffered many things and gone through many Trials because we have stedfastly believed and therefore we have spoken it that the Lord will certainly by his Almighty Power lay waste destroy and bring to an end that Power that the Wicked one the Devil hath had upon the Minds and Spirits of the Sons and Daughters of Men and that he will set up and establish in the very same Soul a Law of Righteousness and a Law of Truth and will cause the Beauty of Holiness to shine forth through them where Iniquity hath Lodged where the wicked one hath Ruled Now you that have believed this Testimony you have received it as glad tidings unto you for you are weary of that old Service you are oppressed under the Power of that strange Prince there was a kind of Spirit and Power that had Ruled over you that neither gave you life nor breath nor had done any good thing and yet you were subject and many there were who through the grace of God that came to see that State and Condition of Sin and Iniquity was not a happy State and by a secret kindling of the Sparks of Gods Love in your Souls e'er you knew him there was a Cry raised to be delivered if it be possible If there be any Deliverance O why may not I be delivered If there be any Redemption why may not I be redeemed If there be a Power that can set me free from the Service of this Wicked one why may not I be set free Ah Friends remember the Days and Nights in which these Living Cries did run through you then you was poor indeed then you was humble and broken and the Lord beheld you in those days he saw your State and Condition he saw how helpless you were and did not he arise to help you Did not a Power spring forth in the Day of your humility in the day of tenderness by which you became able to make War against the Lusts of your own Hearts and did not you overcome and prevail in your War did not you make progress by the Power and by the Grace that first raised desires in you and as you made this progress and gained ground as I may say of your own Corruptions your Faith came to be strengthned and you were confirmed in the belief and in the obedience of the Truth and the more you trusted and relied upon him the more did he magnifie his Power in you he made known his ability and his strength in your weakness so that you did become Living Witnesses every one in your measure that there was such a Power and that that Power was able not only to save from a little or from a few but was able to save to the uttermost to save out of all that was polluted and defiled and to cleanse and purifie the Conscience from all dead Works and to enable you to serve the Living God Now the Lord having thus established you and confirmed you by his Power that you were sound in the Faith and firm in the believing of the Truth My Friends all the Labour and Travel and Doctrine and Exercises of the Preachers of the Gospel to those who were Converted and Confirmed became very acceptable So we preached and so you believed here was an Unity in our Faith here grew up a Fellowship a Communion in the Faith and the Lord became glorifiâ—d in the Assemblies both of them that preached and of them that heard because each one had a place in the Body and each one had a Saviour of the word of Life by which the Body was nourished Now my Friends that which lies particularly upon me to leave with you for my Testimony and I pray to God it may be placed in the hearts of all you that have believed that is that you may all wait
the first terms of Christianity and to reckon no man a Christian let him profess what he will saving such a one as doth know and witness that the long-suffering and patience and goodness of God doth lead him to Repentance and saving such a one as hath so much Faith towards God that for Love to God he will deny himself and take up his Cross and be a follower of Jesus in that way and Life he lived in It is high time for all of us to return again to the terms of Christianity that were set up by a higher Authority than ever Antichrist had and before Antichrist was revealed for though it is true that Antichrist hath obtained power on Earth to establish his sort of Christianity that is without the Cross and a sort of Religion whereby they indulge themselves in whatsoever pleaseth their Carnal Hearts and Corrupt Minds yet Antichrist hath not all Power he is not Almighty I hope Antichrist nor the Beast nor the Dragon nor the False Prophet nor the Whore they have not all Power on Earth though they have a great deal and by that Power they have establish'd Laws Decrees Canons and innumerable things about Religion and some cry this is the way you must walk in others cry the way to Heaven lies here and here you must travel if you will come thither Some cry this is the truth others say it is errour so that the World is divided Antichrists Government in the World is divided and when the House is divided against it self there is hopes that it will fall at last But there is one to whom all Power in Heaven and Earth is given and committed and his Christians are not divided among themselves but they are of one heart and of one mind and he that hath all Power in Heaven and Earth committed to him can crush and bruise that power that others have Herod had some and Pilate had some but saith Christ your Power is limited this is your hour and the power of Darkness and thou hadst not had Power saith Christ to Pilate were it not given thee from above here is power given to the Dragon to the False Prophet and the Beast to speak great things but this Power of Antichrist is going away but Christ Jesus was sent into the World in his day to bring people back again to God and to the Primitive Religion and Obedience and to the first terms of Society and Communion and to a fellowship in Christ Jesus through the Holy Ghost Now if we had set up a way of Religion as other Folks have done which is contained in some Canons Articles Doctrines and such and such Observations and Commandments of Men and if Men will confess these Articles and observe these Canons they shall be of our Society then we had done like the rest of the fallen Christians but we have declared from the beginning that professing our Doctrine and the Principles of Religion doth not give any Man Fellowship and Communion with us but our Communion is in the Self-denying Life and a daily Cross in opposition to sensual Lust Vanity Pride and bitterness of Spirit Corruption Enmity and Wrath this hath brought us to a Holy Fellowship and Communion in the Holy Ghost and to live in Unity from one Head which is Christ Jesus so that there is not this Mans Church and the other Mans Church among the People of God Do you read in the Primitive times that Paul had his Church and Peter his Church and James his Church and Jude his Church Indeed they had their Meetings as we have now in many Cities and Countries among the Jews and Gentiles but these Holy Apostles that were the first Publishers of the Everlasting Gospel after their Great Lord and Master Christ Jesus they never did appropriate any Church to themselves that was not their business but our Work and Business saith the Apostle is to gather you to Christ and present you as a Chast Virgin to Christ our work is to turn you from Darkness to Light that you may walk in it and be the Children of it our work is to build you up as a Spiritual House to be presented to Christ the Mediatour This is Primitive Christianity that hath its Foundation in Holiness and Righteousness sincerity and truth not in Words and Terms and Articles and Canons and Decrees and other Observances this is not the Foundation of true Christianity nor will be again when the Devils Kingdom is destroyed which is a shaking for he in whom we believe hath power from his Father to break the Devils head Antichrist and the Dragons head Christ Jesus is signified by divers Names The second Adam Lord from Heaven the Way the Truth and the Life but he is the same Christ so Antichrist is expressed by several Terms and Names but he is the same Power of Darkness he hath made the Nations drunk and to stagger and destroy and devour one another This hath been done in the fallen state of Christians and the design which the Lord Christ hath in sending his Ministers and Workmen to labour among you is to restore Men to the first Christianity and to bring Men to God that Religion is not made up of Doctrines Articles Canons and Decrees of Men but it hath the word of God for its Foundation he that hath an ear to hear let him hear there is some Spirit and Power and visible work in a true Christian which the false Christian never had The false Christians have taken the Name and the Profession of Christ and their Fruits have been dishonourable to him they might as well make profession of Antichrist and Satan they have a form of Godliness they have some of the Word but they deny the Power What is their Religion and outward Profession when they want the internal Life and the motions of the Holy Spirit if they bring forth the Cursed Fruits of the flesh enmity wrath Lust and Corruption which belongs to the fallen Nature and the unregenerate state The Apostle takes notice of this deceit and hypocrisie in Religion which was growing up before he died Men having 〈◊〉 form of Godliness and denying the Power thereof from such turn away If there be any Brethren that walk disorderly have no Company or Fellowship with them if you would have the holy Name of Jesus free from scandal This hath been the design of all the Faithful Ministers of Christ to keep their Holy Profession of the Name of Christ free from reproach that the holiness of Gods ways might be seen in the holy Lives of the Professors of them Till men come to know this and take up their Daily Cross and exercise Self-Denyal their Christianity is good for nothing I would not have you trust in it neither in Articles Tenents or Observations but see how with your Lives you answer your Profession Christ was Holy Harmless Undefiled Separate from Sinners And why should not Christians be so too How can Christians
towards Relations they do what they do as to God many Lads and Lasses Men-Servants and Women Servants they do their Work and Service not barely to please their Master and Mistriss but to please God the life they live is by the Faith of the Son of God they live as becomes the Members of his Body Husbands love their Wives not simply because they are their Wives as the Men of the World do but they do it upon the account of inward Religion and of the Divine Fellowship and Communion they have in Christ Jesus Husbands should love their Wives as Christ loved his Church and laid down his Life for it so a Man should love his Wife and be tender over her and Minister to her The Life of Christianity hath taught us to behave our selves so as God may have Glory and Christianity be restored to its antient Lustre and Beauty that it had in former days But some will say do as well as you can Men will never love you if you have the Soul of Christianity you shall be reviled and scandalized Men will make works against you and strow Papers against you and set the Magistrates against you live as well as you can they will follow you and disturb you That is more than you know if a Man once come to feel the life of Christianity working in him and the power of it keeping him from doing evil and wishing evil to his Enemies and disposing his mind to a frame of praying for them inclining him to pity them if a Man come to this state he is at peace in himself and enjoys tranquility of mind he looks up to the Mediatour Christ Jesus and feels an answer of peace in his own Soul and is come to rest in himself Now concerning Persecution Hatred and Enmity between the Womans Seed and the Serpentine Seed and how long it will last God whom we serve did say to the Devil in Paradice I will put enmity between thee and the Woman and between thy seed and her seed it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel So that it is not to be expected that the Seed of the Serpent that those that are born of that seed can love those that are born of the Womans Seed it is possible that those that are born of the Seed of the Serpent should be translated and brought out of that corrupt state but it is impossible that those that are born of the Flesh should love those that are born of the Spirit while they continue in their unregenerate State but will persecute them it is like a natural instinct as for water to run downward and fire to fly upward were not all Men and Women born Children of wrath and naturally Enemies in their minds to Christ Jesus And did he die and suffer for them all so that the very nature of the thing is the very reason why Christ died to Redeem those that were his Enemies to be his Friends Suppose I or any other to be a Member of Christ and Men do persecute me and revile me and hate me should I not love them and do good unto them when I see one infinitely better than either you or I do it for us when we were Enemies Christ hath sent his Spirit into our Hearts that we might become Friends of him and of him that sent him this is the effect of the Righteousness of Christ and of his innocence that Enemies may become Friends thus have many been brought to a Friendship of Truth that were Enemies of it if we could not suffer for the Testimony we have received of God what were it worth but seeing God hath not only given us to believe but to suffer for his Name many have been turned by this means from darkness to light and many more will the light breaks forth apace notwithstanding there hath been so much ado to stop it It hath been the design of many Learned Men of this Nation how shall we stop these mens mouths that preach the Doctrine of Truth in the inward parts the Light within and Christ within them I will not repeat the many Laws that have been made against them that will not Preach Lies but the power of Christ and his truth now what will you do You cannot lay hands on them as you used to do no but we will reproach them with the tongue we will render them odious to the Government as persons that will over-turn Church and State and that preach false Doctrine and when all is done and they have said their worst People will still believe that Sin and Wickedness is hateful to God that God takes no delight in Sin and that the Devil will lead us to Sin he that keeps most from Sin keeps most out of the Devils Clutches and he that lives most Holy is most like to God These things we will Preach and we will go on in this Testimony that the best way that men can take is to break off their Sins by Repentance and turn to God their Maker with their whole hearts and that they will look to their ways and search and try and examine their hearts and if they see evil to keep out of it this is such a thing as there is no withstanding of it it will go through this Nation and all the Nations of the Earth What if a Company of People should combine together and say we will not have the Sun to shine upon the City of London what course must we take when the Sun is down we will build a Bank or high Wall to intercept its Light but notwithstanding all their endeavours when the Sun riseth it will get over all their high Banks and Walls so all the Designs and all the Contrivances against the Light of the Gospel and against Christ the Sun of Righteousness and against the Spirit of Christ the Light will ascend and get over the heads of them all and it will confound them and break through all opposition I Exhort you all my Friends that laying aside all Doctrines and Tenents and Controversies among Christians to come to this simple Thesis and Position it is no matter what I profess of Religion if my Life be not answerable to it if there be not a love to God and my Neighbour and to mine own Soul there is no Life nor Power in my profession of Religion I will rest satisfied in the measure of Knowledge that God hath given me I must not do to my Neighbour what I would not have my Neighbour do to me I must be upright and sincere towards God God will not accept of any Worship from me when I am unclean in Body and in Mind too we must see that we be Purified for God will not accept of an Offering from an unclean heart you cannot bring a clean thing out of an unclean saith our Lord Jesus Christ the great Preacher of Truth and Righteousness I must first make the Tree good before the Fruit will be
that Worship and Religion and the performance of those things that are pleasing to God They that are come thus to Worship they do not only know what the Lord requires of them and when he requires it of them but they are given up into the hands of God they Pray Preach Exhort and Live according to the will of God It is hard for People in a Carnal state to believe this but you that are Believers that are come to know the gift of God in your selves and the necessity of being ruled by him you will believe us for none else will believe us let us Preach to as many People and Nations as we will none will receive us as true Ministers but those that have the truth in their own hearts if there be any that despiseth the Grace of God in his own heart he hates that which chides and reproves him if there be such a Man he will hate me because I am a Minister and a Witness of the Grace of God and of that truth in the inward parts which is the ground and foundation that a Man hath of acceptance with God A Wicked Carnal Wretch will say I hate such a one I hate the Light that which checks me and witnesseth against me thou art such a one as bearest witness against me therefore I hate thee It is very true it cannot be otherwise now our desire and labour is that Men may come to the love of the truth in themselves You know there are a great many other Ministers whose Labour is to perswade People to believe what they say to lay down a Doctrine and prove it by Scripture and Reason and set it home upon their Minds by such testimony as the Scripture affords and hereupon they prevail upon the minds and judgments of People to believe what they lay down It is easie to lay down a Position and prove it and convince People that it must be according to Scripture but when a Person is convinced of a Principle of Truth he is not Regenerate thereby and come to God therefore though he cannot deny the Doctrine of Truth in words yet he can deny it in works and doth not rightly come to love it If People would believe what we say and observe what Arguments we bring for proving a Position they may be convinced of the Doctrine of Truth and come to a profession of it and yet be strangers to it till they come to love it in themselves if it were not for this we would leave Preaching if God had not given a measure and manifestation of the Spirit to every Man to profit withall you have it in your selves we are but as Monitors to you to put you in mind of it you have so much business in the World that you have not had leisure to take notice of it A Man may have a Rich Jewel and be Poor notwithstanding till he come to know the value of it A Man hath a Rich and Precious Jewel a Pearl bestowed upon him that would make him Rich in Faith and Love to God and qualifie him for the Kingdom of God and make him an Heir of it but he knows not nor understands the value of it and esteems it not therefore God hath raised up Ministers to put you in mind of it that you may be happy for ever and live in Blessedness to all Eternity whoever hath an ear to hear let him hear and when they hear what we say let them take the benefit of it to their own Souls We bring not truth to you but God hath bestowed it upon you you will be Rich indeed if you do as a Man that bought a Field where the Precious Pearl was and digged till he found it Come to the foundation upon which you should build all your hopes of happiness and depend not upon your own Works or Religious Performances for acceptance with God for there is no acceptance with God but only through Christ we are only accepted of God through him those that will become Christians indeed and worship God as he hath ordained and appointed himself to be worshipped they must come to the Principle of Light and Grace in their own hearts which they have in and through Christ and then they will find acceptance with God Sermon V. The Divine Life of Christ Jesus Preached in Grace-Church-Street March 16. 1691. THE Blessed Life of Christ is not of this World and it ought to be your care in all your Religious Assemblies that you be gathered into the inward feeling sense of this Divine Life that you may feel your Fellowship and Communion in that Life of Christ that is not of this World And may all of you lay hold upon it for this is the Nourishment and the Heavenly Bread with which the Children of the Kingdom are fed and nourished from day to day there are many that feed upon words that are not the Children of the Kingdom of God but the begotten of God are come to know the vertue of the Divine Life of Christ Jesus their feeding and their nourishment is by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God and they grow up to Life Eternal by that Divine and Heavenly Gift that God the Father hath bestowed upon them through his Son Jesus Christ and they enjoy the Communion of Saints through this Divine Head of the Church that Communicates of his Life and Vertue through every Member by which they are Sanctified and every day more and more prepared for that Living and Eternal Inheritance prepared for the Children of God And where there are a People that are thus gathered into the Life of the Lord Jesus Christ they are able to draw nigh to God they feel the Power of Enterance because their Sin is removed that did formerly lie at the door and the way is opened and consecrated for them to draw nigh and partake of the Table of the Lord by which they grow stronger and stronger in his Might and Power and are thereby enabled to perform the whole will of God and that Divine Worship and Religious Service which God requireth at their hands in their day For it is very certain and we have found it by experience the words of our Lord to his Disciples of old without me saith he ye can do nothing For though People may meet together and may pretend and set up a Form of Worship and of Religion in their own will yet it all amounts to nothing with respect to acceptance with the Lord there is no return in their Souls no addition of Life nor encrease and growth of Life they are not nearer the Kingdom than when they first believed but many times further off by leaning upon a formality and not really entering into the work of God nor travelling out of Death into Life for there must be Path and a travelling in it the Soul must have an exercise through the Power and Life of Jesus for the overcoming of Death that did separate