wholly to the power of darkness who will then keep you seeking Salvation without whilest he is heaping up evil within For that which seeks to devour your Souls is within you whilst he is leading you out to seek Salvation and nought can damn you but what is in you sin is within before it be acted so must Salvation be within before you be cleansed though the old deceiver hath taught people to think they are saved by believing God at a distance who neither know nor worship him in the Spirit and Truth nor are their bodies his Temples nor can the Holy One dwell or walk in them because of uncleanness but their Vessels being filled with all the powers of darkness and the heavenly Place with Spiritual wickedness hath caused God to depart from the children of men for this uncleanness and yet a Lyar speaks Peace and preaches Salvation and the Creature believes so being filled with darkness But the Children of Light receive not this Doctrine who see and feel and cannot be content with words but with power A talk of God satisfies not the Soul of a good man till he feel his Presence and Power God without and the Devil within is not the Saints Faith nor Salvation but God in them and the Devil cast out is their glory and strength and they are bold through the might of his Spirit in them to war daily against the Prince of this world because they know him who is greater in them and more holy than he that is in the world And this is the Faith-that overcomes the world and he that 's born of the Spirit hath the Father and the Son and he that hath the Devil is his Enemy and knows him not whence he is but judgeth him after the flesh and outward appearance but the Child of Light wars not after the flesh but after God that he alone may have the glory who is all in them that they have to glory in who gives their souls the holy victory And now were not you wholly blind in your minds and past feeling you could never sit down so besotted as to believe you are saved while you are daily captivated in sin and forced many times to do that which you know you should not and this by the power of lust in you entising and leading you into every temptation and causing to fall into many hurtful evils which gathers strength and rooting daily in you heaping wrath and vengeance by adding sin unto sin which must all be accounted for in the end thereof when you have filled your vessels to a full measure And can you say you are redeemed from the Devil while he hath this power in you that you are not able to resist him but are led captive at his will contrary to all fear of God or power of Righteousness Are your Bodies redeemed to God and are you Members of Christ whilest you yeeld your members unto unrighteousness or are you saved who are servants of sin In what stands the life and power of your Redemption of your Faith and of your Salvation seeing nought can stand in God but that which brings forth to him Is not he in the bonds of iniquity who is bound to bring forth iniquity Is not he a servant of sin in whom it reigns Is not he the child of bondage who is bound to bring forth what the evil-one begets in him and to serve him in what he moves him unto Mind this you who are born after the fleshly spirit who act according to his will who worketh in your flesh to bring forth unto death Doth your profession save you who are not turned from dead works The foundation of Repentance is not yet laid in you and therefore death reigns above the Life that should bring forth to God and this is the servant of sin's state and spirit of bondage and not the Heirs state who inherits God's Righteousness and brings forth thereof unto that Spirit which pleaseth God as you bring forth to the flesh and please the world And these two seeds are within and are at enmity and disagreement and there can be no concord betwixt them no more than light and darkness and their several fruits are made manifest with the Light which condemns the one and confesseth the other to be of God and wrought in God And as many as are quickned with the Spirit of Life have the feeling of this before they bring forth the fruits thereof into the world and are come to the discerning of things that differ in nature and effect by the tasting and handling of the Word of Life and knowledge of that Election which is before the World was by which they are made able to judge the ground and end of every motion in them or to them which abiding in they need not man to teach them neither can they be deceived which makes them with boldness bring forth openly such words and works as are begotten in them by the Word of Life which shews the whole World to lie in wickedness and makes it manifest in the Light of Life by whom the Prince of this World is judged and condemned and the secrets of hearts made manifest according to the nature of every several spirit which comes up to the day of the Lord's appearance And to this Spirit of Truth must an account be given by all flesh living for this is he that lives to all generations and is unchangable in his witness against the evil seed into whatever form he transforms himself in words and profession yet is there no agreement betwixt their several natures be they in one person or be they in a family or be it in a Nation there is not agreement nor can any one person Family or Nation serve them both but whoever serves the one hates the other and condemns him so he that serves Deceit condemns the Just and so condemns that which should save him and must judge him in the end And here is the cause of that fleshly liberty which some have got for the present where the Witness is slain and also of the horrour of Conscience where the Just appears towards Judgment the unstable estate of such who are faithful to neither the everlasting Peace and Power in such where the Just hath dominion and the present sorrows of such who are diligent in waiting and wrestling to the end of the World and the beginning of Christ Jesus through Faith and Patience And all these are comprehended with him who hath learned Christ by being faithful to that Spirit of Truth sent in his Name to testifie what is of him in every vessel and what is of the spirit that lusteth against him and keeps the Creation in bondage And this is that one way to Life and Salvation holden forth freely by the Spirit of Truth sent forth by the Father in the Name of Christ Jesus who hath its several operations in several vessels according as he finds them towards God in some he
holy movings in them by which the holy men of God spoke saw and discerned in all Ages as the Scriptures do testifie all which is lost in that man who is exalted above the pure Light and lowly Spirit in which God meets man to teach him the knowledge of the Truth And therefore you Teachers and People of all sorts and Sects who so violently have set your selves against the Light of the Spirit within you and within others when it calls to you for a return to it How long will you kick against that which pricks you at the heart for your contrary walkings and dissembling professions why will you not be still and commune with it in your own hearts that you might come to a true feeling and discern what nature it is of and from whence it is and what way it works and against what And also what nature that is in you which it chiefly condemns and works against and from whence that is that so with the Light of Truth you might come to judge things that differ in the ground and in the end that you might so come to walk in the Light in Judgment and in Truth of Heart towards God and man And let the single Truth of God without mixture answer these things following feelingly in you What is the cause that while you are professing to seek God and serve him you should be so unwilling to serve him in that which is of his own Nature and to worship him in Spirit and Truth in your own Vessels whose bodies should be the Temples of God who is not worship'd in Temples made with hands nor in a nature contrary to himself Or will the talking of what he is or was in others in whom he was known to walk and speak deliver your Souls from the power of the Prince of darkness and deceit that is in your selves unless you can by Faith receive him in you also as they received him and feel his Power overcoming and casting out him that hath you captive at his will against your Faith and Conscience Or will God be found in you or accept your worship whilst his Temple is possessed with his enemy and a contrary nature acts you therein Can you meet with God in any thing but that which is Holy who hears not the prayer of him that regards iniquity Wherefore your first work should be to know him in you whom God accepts for he alone must present you to the Father who appears without sin understand what I say he that appears without sin else you are reprobate in Gods sight there is no hope without Christ in you and you in him the everlasting Priest to offer up upon the Altar of atonement Holiness must make one in Spirit and though by the height of your minds he that is without sin be low and little in you yet without me you can do nothing saith Christ Jesus mind what he saith you can do nothing Then what are you doing who are not in the holy Spirit Can you worship by Tradition or be saved by the Letter will you make Christ a lyar who saith Without me you can do nothing I am the Light of the world every branch saith Christ that abideth not in me is cast out and withereth and is for the fire Mind this you that reject holiness in Spirit and light from the holy Spirit in you Are you not cut off who are not in that which is holy are you not withered and for the fire Are you not cast out who have no abiding-place in that which is holy and a light in that which is holy Mind what is withered in you and what is fruitful Have you power light and knowledge in you to do evil but not to do well Are you not withered then unto God are you not cut off from the natural Son and planted in a wild Vine of a contrary nature Your light is withered and your seed corrupted and your tree is known by its fruits which now is green and brings forth but not to God nor from God who are cut off and withered without light in you without Christ in you without God in you to keep you not so much Truth in your inward parts as is able to teach you to make you free here is your loss and nakedness manifest and the short bed and the narrow garment who have not so much of the holy Spirit as will cover you nor bear you harmless Now will you say you hope you are born again of the Spirit and are baptized into the Spirit and walk in the Spirit and worship in the Spirit and then are gone out for Salvation and Light and speak evil of that within as not able to bear you against him that is of the world Now your Hope is not an Anchor nor your Faith in that which overcomes by birth as the Saints do Whosoever is born of God overcomes the World And he that is begotten of God keepeth himself that the evil-one toucheth him not Now mind Where is he that keepeth himself and where is the evil-one Let Truth answer in you if there be any knowledge of God in the house Is not that he who gives you light that would keep you from the evil-one and should you not be one in Him that would keep you from evil Who is your Keeper Watchmen that are blind Do not you watch in vain who know not the Lord to keep your City else how should the evil-one have his liberty in and out without a powerful resisting consider in your selves Where is he that gives you to see when the evil-one toucheth you and when he tempteth but toucheth not What nature is he of that doth this for you and where is he Is he not light and understanding and is he not in you and is he not of a contrary nature to the evil-one that tempteth And doth he not shew you the temptation before you consent thereto if you mind him Then what is the cause that the evil is committed seeing a Light and Nature appears against him Is it not because you joyn to the evil-one and like his motion better than his that testifies it to be evil And so you deny the Holy-One and the Just and become one with the evil-one And then you say The Light is not able when you have denyed it and have not been faithful to joyn to it in counsel and strength but have given your strength to the contrary but they that are born of it do not so but when they are shewed the evil-one and his temptation be it what ever it be to or under what pretence soever if the Light testifies against it Then is their diligence watchfulness and sobriety used against it in the fear of God lest they should be drawn from the Light and enticed and with all their power they joyn in obedience to the way of the Light so that there is a war and wrestling ere the thing be over and being resisted
A Door Opened TO THE Imprisoned Seed IN THE VVORLD And the way of Freedom by the Spirit of Truth sent out into the World in love to the Sheep that have long been lost Which may serve any who simply seek the life of what they profess and may shew the feigned false in heart the cause why they are shut out of Truths Power Wherein the Elect way is opened to the blind with encouragements to enter and walk therein Also the Fruits of the Free-born cleared from legal performances and the Children of Bondage shewed the nature of their own works Christ Jesus known to be King in his Temples through the Power of the Holy Ghost and Sword of the Spirit lifted up against the Man of Sin in true Judgement By J. N. The Second Edition corrected If you know the Truth it shall make you free London Printed in the Year 1667. A Door opened to the Imprisoned Seed in the World and the way of freedom by the Spirit of Truth sent into the World in love to the Sheep that have long been lost EVery Creature being born of corrupted nature hath that spirit in him that lusts enviously against God and that seed in him and growing up with him which daily seeks to ensnare his Soul further into wickedness and vanity and to increase his separation from God by drawing in iniquity and filling the Temple where God should dwell and be known with the accursed things which God hates and cannot behold for this evil seed being subtile and forward prevails above the pure Life and leads out the mind from it into many several temptations presenting them with delight unto the carnal part and outward sences whereby the Seed of God becomes continually vailed and hid from the creature so that man knows not that Word of Life by which he was created nor can he come to be guided by it in himself till the head of this evil seed be bruised through believing in that Light which comes from the Life by which the World was made and this is that Rock which follows man with its unchangeable testimony bearing witness onely to that which is of himself and against all the wayes of that evil seed calling and reproving the World because thereof which call as many as receives and hearkens to by Faith comes to hear the Word of Life wherein Power is received to become the Sons of God which Power of Life as it arises in the Promised Seed the head of the evil seed is bruised and he comes to be brought under who had taken the Soul captive at his will to every vain and evil work and so as the Creature comes to be redeemed from under the power of darkness so he comes to be guided in the Light of that Life by which he came into the World and that Light which before reproved him for his deeds of darkness following him from one to another condemning him in all being turned to by Faith and Obedience now becomes his Leader out of the World to the Son of God in whom Gods Righteousness is revealed from above to justification which Righteousness being received into and abiding in sin is remembred no more and thus man being changed into that Nature which changeth not in the inward man comes to love that Light which before he could not for no man can love that which is of God until he hath received Gods love Now the Light of the World is Gods love to the World for God so loved the World when it was in the power of darkness that he gave his Son into the World a Covenant of Light that whosoever followeth him should not abide in darkness but should have the Light of Life Now Gods Love 〈…〉 in the light of the World That 's his Covenant with the â—â—â—â—d which whosoever rejects and receives not is out of Gods love and in the enmity out of Gods Covenant neither can he in that state believe that Gods love is in it And this is the cause why all men speak evil of the Light who love their evil deeds and cannot receive it as Gods Love and the way to life to such it is condemnation not that it was intended thereto but men loving darkness rather then light it becomes condemnation but to him that believes and is obedient to him it is precious for who follows it out of the World there receives the Nature of Sons and the Love of the Father which the World cannot receive and the Power of Godliness and Treasure of eternal Life and this is not given to any till they come out of the World as he is not of the World for therein stands Gods Covenant with Abrahams Seed for ever So Gods Love to the World while men are in that corrupt nature and the Witness of the Spirit of Truth is to reprove the World of sin and testifie condemnation against the deeds thereof but to such as have received it it 's a Leader Comforter and Saviour and this is the cause why the one loves and the other hates each Nature speaking that state in which it stands towards God and as it hath obtained from him in Christ Jesus love or condemnation and he that will not receive Gods love that calls him out must abide under the power of the seed which God hates and this is he that seeks to murther him that is in Gods love the evil one having power to blind that mind who denies the Light so far till he cannot see that the Murtherer is of the Divel but thinks he is doing God service and this in the end hath ever befallen such Professors as reject the Light of the World for he that walks in darkness knows not whither he goes but God is Light and in him is no darkness at all nor hath darkness any fellowship with him here is known the Children of God and the children of darkness he that loves the Light brings his deeds to the Light and hath fellowship with God in his deeds and this works the Work of God and he that denies the Light works in darkness and cannot believe the Power that is in the Light being under the power of darkness And therefore he that is born after the flesh knows not him that is born after the Spirit of Light nor can judge of his wayes which are strange and wonders in his carnal sight neither knows he by what power and love that is by which he overcomes the World and takes pleasure in denying the pleasures thereof and vanquisheth all its vanities out of the heart and mind and can no more rejoyce in the World nor make merry with its mirth but rejoyceth in the Truth and is made glad with that which saves him from such folly the wicked knows not the life of the Righteous nor the spring whence his Virtues arise nor the power of his Change nor the end of all his patient sufferings and tryals but stands wondering at it as folly and madness that eye
being blinded by the god of this world which should give the sight thereof and that seed in bondage under the prince of darkness which should give to inherit that immortal Treasure and this must be till there be a denying and coming out of the World to receive that inheritance of divine Light and understanding which none can receive nor be one withal but as they come out of the world from under that seed of enmity which seeks to pervert all the right wayes of God and wrest all his gifts to mans destruction as far as he can prevail Now this destroyer or seed of enmity against the Life of man and his Salvation is kept from that sudden effecting his purpose upon the creature in whom he is head by no other thing but the patience and long-sufferings of God who willing that none of his Creatures should perish but that if by any means all might hearken to the Truth and so recover themselves out of the snares of this subtile deceiver and be saved wherefore he doth many times long bear and forbear with much patience and diligence striving by the Spirit of Truth upon all occasions when ever the Creature doth but mind it checking and reproving and warning even many times at that very instant when the act of sin is committing and if the evil one have got such power in the creature that he will not suffer him to mind reproof before nor in the act of sin then afterwards when the heat of temptation is cooled then he shews the evil and danger of such wickedness that so he might preserve fear in him against the next temptation And thus in many he keeps back destruction a long time so that some are long ere the wicked one get them to fill up their measure and some in that time of Gods patient forbearing and suffering come to repentance and turn to that which reproves and are saved and others go on to destruction which swiftly they draw upon themselves after once the Spirit hath ceased striving and reproving for then the fear is lost and the evil one hath his liberty at his own will the Creature being given up of the Lord and the Spirit of Truth being wholly departed nought but deceit is left to guide him who hath dealt deceitfully with the Spirit of Truth which at the best hath but a form of godliness without the Power for the Power of God is in that Spirit and in that Life which is known by withstanding the evil one which is fallen and covered in such in whom death reigns only such who are born of the Spirit have the Life and Power and know its strength and virtue unto eternal Salvation the rest are left to their thoughts and notions And here is the cause of that strong contention that hath ever been betwixt the Children of Light who are born of that Spirit of Truth and have their light and strength in the inward man and the worlds professors whose expectation stands in something without them which others have spoken of who had it in them and so not knowing the Power and Mystery of the living Faith which is holden in a pure Conscience which only hath the Call and Power to bring out of the worlds darkness they are kept captive therein contending against the Spiritual Light and so while they are in the world go about to comprehend and measure that Spirit of Truth which the world cannot receive neither knoweth thinking that Spirit of Light and Life to have no other opâ—â—â—â—ion in such who are led out of the world and born thereof and in whom Christ lives than they find it to have in themselves who stumble at it and are disobedient and unbelieving in heart when as indeed to us that believe it is Elect and Precious who come to it for all supplies but to the wisdom and profession of the world it is a Rock of offence and stumbling-stone yet is it the Head of the Corner and in them who revile it and reject it it is become all they have in them that is good true and faithful towards God or their Souls as their hearts in secret do witness to them and leaves them without excuse many times For even they that reject this Light and Spirit have nothing else that can shew them so much as one of their thoughts or divide to their understanding the evil from the good either in Thought Word or Action or that can really shew them what is of God really and what is of him who doth but shew himself to be God to deceive withal and is not nor without it can they perceive the several motions of every several spirit that is in them to receive the good and deny the bad nor can they know the several roots of Life and Death which plant to pluck up and which to feed on and how can such labour in Gods Vineyard And indeed without this Light the Body is a house of darkness and a habitation of every deceitful spirit and the heart desperately wicked and no man knows it but he in whom the Light of Truth shineth and he that declares to man his thoughts his Name is the Lord of Hosts Thus is he the Head of the Corner which the stumbler cannot comprehend in his wit and so rejects him without whom there is no building nor working the Work of God And therefore you sons of the darkness of this World mind in your selves what it is you set your selves against is it not that Light which would limit and chain the evil one in you that which condemns you for every evil work secret and open which will not let you be proud and wanton and lustful that which in your own hearts testifies against you for deceit and falshood towards God and towards men deceit in Religion hypocrisie and falshood making a form of what you are not deceit in your dealing with men in your tradings and speakings and severall actings both as Rulers Priests and People without respect of persons nor any other thing but hath respect onely to that of God in you which is of his Nature given to you to guide man in the Light of God out of all the wayes of this deceiving spirit And now he that comes to you with this Doctrine comes near you being manifest in Spirit to that of God in your own hearts you are pricked therewith and then the evil one is stirred up in you to fight against that which is Truth in your selves and answers to the Truth which is spoken to you by another without you from the same Spirit of Truth which by you is rejected And thus you joyning with him that rises up in wrath against the Truth in your selves and denying that which should chain and bind the evil one you deny the Lord of Life and give strength to the evil one to murther the Just in you and quench the Spirit of Truth and weary the Lord with striving till you be given up
stedfast in the Faith he flees and the Glory returns to God who dwells in the Light And if at any time the evil-one prevail the creature comes to see the cause to be in himself and not in God and for it is humbled and warned and this he comes to see when the temptation is over and the enemy fled and he is come again into coolness with God in the Light which while the darkness was up and the enemy in the house he saw not And thus is experience gained through tribulations and tryals which they who endure not the temptations never come to learn of God but fall under the temptation through unfaithfulness to the Light and so are ever captives at his will who tempts to evil and the enemy of all Righteousness ever reigns over all the Members leading out the Eyes Ears Hands and Heart to iniquity and vanity and the Tongue to plead for it against every reproof having denyed the reproof of the Spirit of Truth within your selves it cannot be received from others for in that house the contrary spirit wholly reigns which turns away the ear from hearing of Knowledge and the heart from good understanding in Spirit And this is the cause why you are kept alwayes without the feeling of God and his Power and knowledge of his Word and the mysteries of his powerful Counsel are hidden from you which he reveals to the faithful who have overcome through Faith and Patience in whom Satan is subdued and trodden under foot for in whom this devourer is above what ever God gives or reveals to the Creature the Deceiver is ready to pervert it quite to a contrary end that God never intended in the giving thereof and to lift up a wrong nature and exalt a contrary spirit which God hates and this is evident in the Light of Truth throughout the World What is the Gift of God which the spirit of the World abuses not If God give Wealth where that spirit is above how is the creature puft up therewith above the rest of his brethren as though he were no more of the same mould and blood but as God would he be worshipped If he give beauty it s turned into lust pride and wantonness begetting and deceiving adulterous eyes Wisdom is turned into folly and wickedness scorning the simple and over-reaching the plain-hearted and such as have most of it are but most able to compass their corrupt ends If God give Grace it s turned into lasciviousness and Gods long for bearance into hardness of heart Religion and Profession into a cloak for sin and hypocrisie Fasting and Praying to accomplish mens self-ends against such as they would swallow up c. And not one thing that God can give which this evil one will not subvert and turn against the giver so that though God be free in himself and good and plentiful by Nature yet he cannot so shew himself to such in whom the strong man keeps the house who makes the creature thereby but more wanton to kick against his Creator and puffs him up to forget his Maker and Feeder and so a fruitful Land maketh he barren for the wickedness of him that dwells therein which from the beginning was not so Neither is it so with the Children of Light and Counsel who have the Giver in their hearts above the gift where the pure Counsel sits to order the pure Gifts where every good and perfect gift is brought forth in its own nature form and manner undefiled or disfigured with the spirit of the World but the springs run forth from the clean Fountain and the Plant and Fruit is Holy like the Root where the spirit is clean and the flesh undefiled and every thing as it comes from God as in the beginning where the world is ended and the old man put off and all things of God there every gift of God is known by its fruits and nature and ends in such Vessels The Gifts of God return to God by glorifying him here on earth where Riches bring forth good and merciful Works and not pride and vain glory Wisdom stands up against Oppression and not to deceive and through Grace doth Righteousness reign unto Life eternal their Religion is pure and unmixt with the World but separated from it whereby the Sons and Daughters of God are known in the streets by his virtue and comeliness put upon them by him with which they are covered over as a Garment even with all the Fruits of the Holy Spirit of Faith and Truth which is in Christ Jesus who is Lord over all in such Vessels and these are the Vessels of Honour sit for the Lord to shine through against his adversary the worlds spirit in Fruits that cannot be condemned being not defiled in the Vessel but manifest as they come from above answering to that of God in every heart in which the evil one hath neither part nor power these are Sons of God without rebuke in the midst of an unclean generation shining as lights and this alone honours God which is of God and this answers the end of mans Creation and Gods bounty who is rich in such till they come to be filled with all the fulness of God which he withholds not from such but from the unclean and slothful such who defile the flesh with lusts from such he withholds his riches and fulness therefore the World knows not the Sons of God nor whence they are nor whither they return who follows Christ out of the World never returning thither again but to testifie against it whose Vessels are no more filled with lust and the spirit of this World to bring forth thereto but are filled with the holy Ghost who hath made them new Creatures for himself to walk in and shine forth in Fruits of the Spirit And now you wild Colts and barren earthly minded Professors who have filled your Vessels with wantonness and deceit and all sorts of fleshly minds in vain do you hunt about with your old Bottles and think to retain the Heavenly Treasure you gad about but to no purpose in the sight and esteem of God for you are in the wrong work while you are in the worlds nature and in the old creation your words and ordinances are empty of the Life of God and his Fruits you cannot bring forth nor receive till you be renewed nothing you can do will avail you but a new creature your old vessels are full of the old wine from the wild grape and that 's above in you which defiles the pure so God withholds his Gifts from you which abound in his new Creation and you know nought of it but what condemns you so you fight against it and say there is nothing now perfect and so would condemn the new with the old and judge them alike and thus you err not knowing the Gift of God nor the Works of his Hands which are all perfect as he is perfect who walks not in the defiled
forced to fly in the end for refuge when all else is weighed and found too light to abide the tryal though now it be lightly esteemed and you say it s not able to save it s that within that must give you the knowledge of God in the face of Jesus nought without you will make your peace but that which works in you that must cleanse the house of your adversary and ordain peace for you And this is that which makes the holy men of God who have gone before you in this Regeneration to preserve a clean House and a pure Conscience above all that the World can afford or promise knowing that in the day of tryal all will prove a lye but what is truth in the inward parts and that none are true worshippers but who worship the Father in the Spirit and in Truth and the whole mystery of Faith and of Godliness is learned within and holden in that which is pure and the pure in heart onely sees God and have heard and learned of him and such are Sons indeed who are born of the Spirit and led by the Spirit and filled with the Spirit and these have power light and understanding to do well who have God in them who is holy and that Spirit which the Devil is not able to resist and every Child of God hath this in their measure by which they resist the World and overcome it even that which is born of God that onely overcomes which is faithful and will not forget himself blessed onely are they who have of this in them in the evil times which God cannot forget nor suffer to be tempted above measure such only have that Election for whose sake the flesh is saved and in this only doth the creature find favour in the sight of God in the day of vengeance when God ariseth to plead with all the earth for their wickedness a Seed shall be saved but that is not it which saith and doth not And therefore think of this all you who mock at a pure Conscience and reject that of God within and speak lightly and reproachfully of it did you know whom you reproach and against what it is you sport your selves you would rather gnaw your tongues then utter a word against it you would change your minds and seek it with those that sell all that they may find it though it be little in you so that you dare not trust to it yet all that have proved it prize it as the great Power of God to Salvation and whether you can receive it or no you have no Election but what is in it In this did Noah find grace in the sight of God when the earth was corrupted and Noah walked with God and was just and perfect in his generation and in that which was just and perfect he was saved and in the Righteous Seed which was grieved with the uncleanness of Sodom was Lot saved Now if you can read your Election you may its onely that which was before sin was that is grieved at sin and testifies in man against uncleanness and this Seed stands elect before the world was if you can receive it and make it sure you may but you which say you have not power to do well and denies his Call can never do it He that calls out of sin and the soul that is vexed because of sin is little and lowly in you but the god of this world is lofty strong and powerful in you and hath lifted up your hearts on high to seek great things far above that pure principle of true light and understanding which God hath chosen and elected to himself and wherein he will commune with man and teach him his fear and knowledge and give him renewed strength and of his spiritual power and salvation from sin And now your lofty looks are too high for this door and the day of this small and simple one you despise these waters are too still for you to drink on and to stay and wait for great things where so little is seen you have not faith so you out-run your rest and the poor in Spirit take the Kingdom before you to whom the Election and Blessing belongs Now consider you that are lofty rich and high-minded mind the Calling of God and his Election Hath he elected the rich in notion and high in profession the proud and the wanton Hath not he chosen the weak and poor foolish and contemptible to confound all this But he doth not confound the Election the poor lowly and meek the pure and holy in heart and soul he doth not confound nor shut out but he that is pure meek and holy calls and the soul that is meek lowly and loves holiness it answers in all conversation obtaining grace to be holy as he that calls is holy Here is the Calling made sure and the Election by answering thereto who keeps in the Call and in the Election which was in God before transgression was But you that deny him that calls you out of darkness into light by the power of his holiness lowliness meekness and truth manifest in Spirit in you according to the gift of God in his tender mercy by which this springs from above as was in the beginning I say you that reject this to lay hold on something that is set up without you since the beginning you deny your Calling and Election and betake your selves to a changeable thing which the Election is not nor he that calleth thereunto For the Election hath been preserved in God when all the world else professions and people have been deceived defiled destroyed and changed And that is it which is alwayes pure as God is pure and changeth not and he that goes out from this doth not make it sure to himself by well-doing For the Election is in the light and power of Holiness and Truth which they that say and do not are out of Therefore return from off the Mountains you that have lift up your selves on high without God who have a form without the power of God And feel after that which is pure lowly and just in you for God is a Spirit and in the Spirit and Truth is he known and served and there is his counsel received in that which is truth in your inward parts feel that which never sinned near you then you draw near to God in Spirit and keep there and wait and hearken what the Spirit saith which never sinned with that principle in you which would not sin with that wait upon the holy Spirit and mind his motion continually and be obedient thereto that you may once come to serve the living and not the dead that you may be able to say your Redeemer liveth and that you know him and have heard his Voice that is holy as God is holy that is lowly and meek and that you have learned and do alwayes learn of him and are joyned to him that you may become conformable
this appearance in Spirit and tell people that this is not to preach Christ and yet profess Christ in you tell me what Christ is in people if not Light and holie Life and a faithful Witness against the contrary in all in whom he liveth and by what other thing he may be known in spirit life and power if this be denyed else let the mouth of Antichrist be stopt that the simple may pass on the right and living way free from such who will neither enter the Kingdom themselves nor would suffer others who have always resisted the holy Ghost Also the fruit of the free-born cleared from legal performances and the children of bondage shewed the nature of their own works Children of this world who have the form but not the power of Godliness and have got notions of life but not the nature and spirit thereof in your dark thoughts from an unfruitful spirit you judge the Children of Light and when you see us acting in the life of Christ Jesus then you say we are under legal performances and that we think to be saved by our works and that we do it to merit and the like but you are greatly mistaken in your selves and are not in that Spirit which doth see us or can judge the nature of our works nor our end therein wherefore be silent and hear what is said to you if you have an ear to hear withal for though your selves be dead withered branches cut off from the tree which is good by nature and there abide yet it is not so with such as are born again and ingrafted into the good Olive for he that is really born of God knows two several seeds and natures which spring and bring forth from several roots and after their several kinds Now the first of these is in bondage with its branches and brings forth unto self from some outward observation or litteral command or something that is carnal or visible sets on work and being thus set on work to do things contrary to your life and nature you go hardly through it and if you attain the outward performance the boaster gets up to glory in what you can do who doth all for self-ends and so looks for reward above such as you think cannot do as you have done Now you who have gone no further but wearied your selves herein and found nought but bondage are turned back into liberty again and you judge as you have found in your selves so you say all good works are from the spirit of bondage boasting and merit and the like But you should not judge the Children of Light after the flesh your measure will not reach that birth for he that 's born of God is a branch of another root and seed then you know which hath another nature inclining to God from whence it is as the first inclines to the world whence it is And as the natural man doth evil naturally with delight his root and life being so So the spiritual man in his measure doth good naturally after his root and life which is his pleasure and joy to bring forth from the good root that which is good by nature as it is the delight of the other to bring forth that which is evil by nature for as is the heavenly such are they that are heavenly and it s no bondage for the heavenly to bear heavenly fruits but to the earthly man it is being against his nature wherefore saith Christ either make the tree good and his fruits good or the tree evil and his fruits evil so good trees evil trees and fruitless trees are known to be of several natures and for several ends So this is but your own darkness that thus thinks and with evil thoughts you judge amiss Will you say of such as are really planted into the living Vine that their fruits which freely spring from thence are legal and bondage and that we think to be saved by our works and by our own righteousness c. Nay these are the fruits of such who are saved already and the Righteousness of God is given to us who are ceased from our own works whose works are no more legal but spiritual free and not bondage and he that 's in Christ is fruitful in good works and free therein by birth and he that abides in Christ sins not nor is his seed of the evil doer Could you understand this you would not condemn the fruits of the living with such as are dead while they live whose fruit is withered being broken off from that which is good by nature and planted into that which is wild by nature but the spiritual man you cannot judge his fruits nor freedom his off-spring nor his end whose fruits judge all fruitless trees yet is he judged of no man and it 's as hard for you to do good who are accustomed to do evil as the Leopard to change his spots but it is otherwise with such as are changed already born of the Light and heirs by birth and right nature to everlasting Righteousness and Truth it 's hard for such to do evil being against Nature Seed and Sonship which is in God and though this you cannot believe yet he that 's born of Faith can and the least Child of God can read it in his measure who knows the old Adam and the new and as in the first all are in sin and bondage so in the second are all made righteous and free to Gods work and in the second is known the new Creation wherein dwells Righteousness as God hath said I will dwell in them and walk in them And will you call this self-righteousness where all things are of God and all things new is this legal and bondage And if any man be in Christ all things are of God and its God that worketh in us of his good and pleasure to will and to do and this is not the spirit of bondage but good will and pleasure which God worketh freely in us So you reproach what God worketh by the hearing of faith and not by the letter which righteousness wrought in Abraham which was in God before Abraham was which is wrought for everlasting and elect of God in Christ Jesus before the world was and is a free gift to all that by Abrahams faith come out of the world to him who is not of the world which you that abide in the world inherit not who are in self and seeking your selves in what you do to God or men how can you believe saith Christ And you that look for rewards are not in that Spirit which worketh freely So you look for rewards and honour teachers and people are all for rewards honour and respect of persons and in that nature is all the bondage merits and rewards in this nature out of the faith of Christ Jesus who went from place to place doing good freely and preaching freely and so will all do who are born of freedom as he is free
market-place at the best not yet come into the Vineyard of God till you be set on work against sin to pluck up and cut down every evil thing that offends in the Kingdom of God with his spiritual Light and Power which Kingdom is within you and that which offends is within you and that which is offended is within and that which is lost and fallen is within and there to be sought and the Pearl and the Seed and the Word and the Law of the Spirit of Life and the Covenant is within and this is not seen nor believed nor can it shine till the House of God be swept and the fruit of darkness denyed and the Light of Christ turned to and the Just obeyed which gives to see the unjust and power against him when the ground of darkness is removed by the working of Faith And as many as be called to this work and entred into it in truth and faith must not be idle but obey the Spirit of Life till the house be cleansed and the unclean wrought out and the pure exalted and then is the rest holy and then you will find your rest within you and your God near you and your souls to dwell at ease with God in your own habitation whose Temples you are if this you obtain by faith in him that calleth and quickeneth you to Holiness and the fruit is the Lords and so is the Seed and the safety for ever to all and in all that abide therein And this is not self-works nor self-will but pure faith and obedience to the Seed of God which in you wars against the world and every selfish fleshly lust and delight which is the Seed of the holy Covenant which Seed is Christ the holy and just One if you can receive it This is he that makes clean and keeps you so as many as obey and walk in him and from his Spirit receives your Law which Spirit giveth you his life to inherit here on earth if you walk in the Spirit you shall not live to the flesh And in this life and knowledge truly learned is answered that common objection which the spirit of the world makes against the holy Life and Kingdom saying If it were possible that we could live without sin then we need no Saviour yea the same that cleanses the house must keep it so and he that 's the death of sin is the life of righteousness and the same light and fear of God which leads to the putting off the old man with his affections and evil works leads to put on the new man which is Christ and so to walk in him which is renewed after the image of him that created him where Christ is all in life and guiding and the good man keeps the house not the strong man and how can that man say he needs no Saviour who can do nought without him whose righteous life is both food and rayment and his light their armor daily against the evil in this world in every thought word and work and in whom this is not so Christ is not all and in whom it is so they are compleat in him and do not say they have no need of him but consess him in them their head and glory and this is the Kingdom of God upon earth and the King in his Kingdom which you that resist in your faith and practice deny the Lord and his Power and his Faith and his Prayer which is Thy Kingdom come thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven where no sin is And this further to all you that in words professe Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Master let it be in Truth and Righteousnesse that you may have his witnesse thereto who is pure and clean and cannot join to evil but is an open witnesse against every appearance of it and so are all his Servants whom he hath hired and sent into the world in what place or imployment so ever you are in if you be his servants you are chiefly about his work and not your own Now his work is manifest in every appearance of his in this world it is against sin and to destroy the works of the Devil out of this world mind this To destroy the works of the Devil out of this world that so the Kingdoms of this world may become the Kingdoms of Christ Jesus and the most Holy One may rule and bring forth fruits therein Now his Servants are known by this that they stand for the Kingdom of Christ in this world and his works and against all the works of the Devil in this world to destroy and bring down and make an end of sin in this world and the servants of the Devil are known in the contrary by being in his work which is to keep sin in this world while people live and this is the strength of his kingdom take away sin and take away his kingdom here and his power here and his place here for where he is resisted he flies but where he is received he sets up his throne and takes pleasure in his servants and they in his works which is to encrease deceit and vanity in them and to fill their hearts with every lust and so strongly carrying out their hearts thereunto that they have no delight in that which is contrary nor can believe that ever any can receive power in the Spirit of Christ against him or such redemption as to overcome him and be freed from him in all his works in this world And here is an agreement with death in your faith and a covenant confessed with unrighteousness And you that are in this mind and belief you are not hired of Christ Jesus the Righteous nor have you received his Faith which is pure as he is pure and believes unto Righteousness and unto Victory and not unto sin and that 's his faith which overcomes the world and the prince of it and resists him stedfast in the faith in hope of victory in the end and this faith his servants confess openly which faith the world cannot receive but confess the contrary openly and so you are kept captive at his will and you believe you must be his servants while you live here in this world And this faith you confess openly against the victory of Christ and herein you are faithful to your own Master whose works you do and plead for and confess his faith which none of the Servants of Christ ever confessed such a faith that they must needs serve sin as long as they live for the youngest and the weakest servant of Jesus Christ that know themselves hired of him they know his work is to destroy sin out of the world and to subdue the Devil and to this work they are set in themselves by faith and power which is in Christ Jesus the Lord and they labour in hope having their hearts turned in them and their faces set towards holiness and from the world and are set