for ever except you turn at my reproof that I may pour out my self upon you to cleanse you from all pollutions of flesh and spirit and so bring you into a godly life in perfectness and true holiness before you go hence and be no more seen for as Death leaves you so will Judgment find you Isa 38.18 for in the grave there is no cleansing So whilst you have time take this for a warning for you will find no mercy with God after death if you reject me the Light whom my Father hath in his mercy sent into the dark world that all that receive me should be led out of sin and darkness into the Light of Everlasting Life If any ask for a proof of these words let them turn within and search the Book of Conscience and look truly therein and there they shall find it We hope we shall finde mercy hereafter World for God is a merciful God The mercy of God is not as many think it is Answ nor to be found where many hope for it which is to say in the life to come after death of the outward man but it is to be found in this life whilst thou hast a being in this earthly tabernacle or else all thy hope in thy dead mind will be in vain for except thou know a cleansing by the Light which is the mercy of God from sin when you shall come to receive a just recompence of reward for all your deeds done in the body Rev. 20 13. then shall your dead minds be awakened and the mercy which you have dreamed of therein be turned into fear wrath and anger wherein the Lord will reveal himself to take Vengeance upon all that knew him not to live in them and they to live in him whose Life raiseth out of Death and all dead works Revel 20.6 into the Life of Righteousness which is free from sin which is the first Resurrection of which whosoever partakes not the second Death will have power over Therefore more plainly to all understandings this I say is the mercy of the compassion at God to all mankind who have lost their spiritual life through falling into sin by which came death over all insomuch that man became more sensless than the Ox Isa 1.3 which knew his owner or the Ass which knew his Master's crib I say his mercy is to offer him Life freely in the Light of his Son which he had fully lost and of himself could in no wayes gain it again John 1.3 therefore God so loved the world that he sent his Son a Light into it in whom was and is Life whose Life is the Light of men shining in dark hearts to which they in taking heed and obeying it in its movings leadings and workings will thereby be led out of sin which it bears Testimony against to take up a Cross to the carnal mind and lusts of the flesh which in them is all enmity against God on which Cross the evil seed will be crucified and the enmity slain and so comes of twain one new man to be made in whom the Image and Life of God is restored again by the second Adam in whom all are made alive 1 Cor. 15.22 who receives him who is the quickening Spirit from that death which entred them by the first Adam who was an earthly man and so all that receive Christ the Light receive the Mercy of God and come to know the Seed of the Kingdom which is like a little leaven which as it comes to have its way to work and operate in the heart it makes all things new by working out the evil seed and killing the old man with his deeds and so makes a new lump Joh. 3.3 5. this is the work of Restoration in the washing of Regeneration through which the new birth is brought forth of which except a man be born he must not inherit the Kingdom of God So this is the Mercy of God Joh. 15.24 to give every one a measure of the Light of his Son to work this Work in and for them which they of themselves could not work which must be wrought in this life or never But yet I feel there are some in the world who are ready to say thus Oh this perfect life that we could attain it Object Oh how willing could we be to be rid of all sin if it be possible for we feel something in us crying as it were for deliverance which is grieved and burthened with the heavy load of sin and indeed notwithstanding all our Observations wherein we have been seeking life and peace yet are we unsatisfied and which way to be we know not Well my Friends Answ in the remembrance of you is my soul refreshed and what if I say I have been striving all this while that I might make a way to come plainly to your understandings to speak a little in the Bowels of Love that these good desires in you may be strengthened and the eye of your understandings opened to see the good day that is broken forth unto many who sate in darkness and under the shadow of death hoping for life and breathing for power to come up out of the pit where there is no water where their tongues clave to the roof of their mouthes in which their hearts were ready to faint and were almost giving up to conclude that there we must remain notwithstanding something breathed to come forth but being in bondage in the Prison-house the keeper thereof said its impossible and while we hearkened unto him we saw no hope of attaining our desires but turning away from him and standing a little still we heard a Voice that spake unto us comfortably Joh. 13. and with it was a Light that shone out of darkness by the which we saw marvellous things wherein our souls were greatly revived and as we hearkned diligently and gave up to the call of the same it brought us by a way that we thought not of out of the depth of the dungeon of death where we were held in bondage and slavery by the King of the bottomless pit who seemed so strong as if he could never be overcome but he that spake unto us in the Light Matth. 12.29 hath proved too strong for him for he hath broken the bars of brass by the might of his power and unlocked the doors of steel and by the Sword of his Spirit hath he cut our bands assunder even the chains wherewith we were held And therefore I as one that have been in the deep even in bondage under the prince of that world which lies in wickedness do hold forth and testifie unto you that a stronger than he is come Matth. 12.29 who is able to bind the strong-man and spoil all his goods and behold he is nigh unto you who breathes from deliverance from sin for it is he that hath begotten that desire in you and not only so but
THE Doctrine of Perfection VINDICATED By way of Answer to some objecting Reasons frequently used by them that plead for Sin in this life And that Freedom from Sin is to be attained in this life or never plainly shewed herein and how they that deny it are one with the false Prophets and Antichristian Seducers spoken of in the Scriptures With some Wholsome EXHORTATION given forth as the Spirit gave utterance tending to provoke all that make a profession of God to press on after the same Shewing plainly how it is agreeable with what is signified in the Scripture and the Light within both of which bears witness for the said Doctrine and against all Sin Something likewayes expressed concerning BREAD and WINE Also some wholsome DIRECTIONS to stir up young People to seek after their Creator in the dayes of their youth Written by one who breathes to God for the Redemption of the Seed that lies yet in the house of bondage bound by the Cords of Iniquity J. Whitehouse LONDON Printed for R. Wilson 1663. TO THE READERS FRIENDS THe eternal invisible Fountain of Wisdom Life Love and everlasting Mercy who is the Creator and Upholder of all things by the Word of his powerful Spirit who is God over all blessed for ever who when I was young and tender in years did beget a sincere desire in my soul which hath caused me even to this day secretly to seek after the knowledge of and acquaintance with him that I might know his Will and receive Power from him to do the same 's the which desires he in his endless Love to my poor breathing soul which hath no true peace nor satisfaction but in doing his Will and enjoying his Presence which is of more value to me than any outward thing yea than Life it self in this world hath far more abundantly satisfied than many now can or than I my self once could believe when I was in the darkness which comprehends not the Light of his Son which shines in the hearts of the sons and daughters of men letting them see the evil of their wayes which I testifie as one who hath made proof of the same is sufficient to give them the knowledge of God and to lead them into all Truth if they would but give up to follow the leadings of it by the leadings of which in my seeking estate have I been drawn from one sort of People to another still to associate my self with those who did most sincerely press on after God in a holy life being willing to run with the formost that I might obtain with them the prize which is to say in this life only a perfect freedom from all sin even to put off the old man with all his deeds which is sin and a putting on the new which is created after God in perfect and true Holiness which the Lord God hath given me by his Spirit to believe and see a possibility of attaining to in which only stands the certain assurance of the full Prize and the eternal Weight and Crown of Glory which in the Life to come is to be fully enjoyed the which this first is but as an Earnest of without which the true certainty of the second cannot be obtained And since I have received this Faith power thereby hath been given me far more than before when I rejected the Light of his Son by which only I witness it is received And now this Faith which is from above even the perfect gift of God I find to be the chiefest thing for the effecting and compleating of an holy life in man through the power of God in them which believe being received into the heart of obtaining a perfect life becomes as a root therein which is pure that causeth the branches to be holy and keeps the creature circumspect and sincere to God still minding what a holy Calling and Mark is set before it and so the Faith being sound and clean the fruits thereof are Holiness which becomes the House of the Lord God And verily whosoever comes to sup with him without this comely pure covering of Holiness they shall in no wayes enter with the Lamb into the Marriage-Chamber but be shut out the which I see this day to the burthening of my soul and grief of my spirit is abundantly wanting amongst most People professing God and Christ for they having not this purifying Faith count it Blasphemy and Error and so rest and believe in the contrary which is to say they must live in sin whilst in this life being taught so by their blind guides who could not themselves cease therefrom and so Prophaneness is gone forth from the Priests over all the Land as in the ancient dayes which giveth way to much loosness and sin the which if any in the Spirit of meekness and fear of God reprove them for then presently they flee to the Scripture and with the same spirit that leads them to sin rake together all the Saints failings to plead for sin term of life the which those things were never written for so that in stead of resisting the Devil in the pure Faith which stands in the Power of God rather gives place to him and pleads for their so doing so that the Devil hath not his Kingdom by force onely but by consent they having granted him a place in them while they have a place in this life which grieves the Spirit of God their Creator who alone should have the Rule and Government of their bodies souls and spirits which are his in the sense of which I am moved to write these following lines by way of Answer to some Questions or objecting Reasons which are frequently used by them that plead for sin and against the Doctrine of Perfection that if possible it may be a help to stir them up to the Witness of God in them that their Understandings by it may be opened who are not wilfully blind but rather through ignorance stand against the thing being beguiled by the subtilty of the Serpent as Eve in her innocency was who told her though she did eat of the forbidden fruit she should not surely dye and that is his lying voice at this day whether in Teachers or others that tells people though they live in some sin they shall be saved from the condemning power thereof So I shall proceed in order as before-mentioned as the Lord shall assist me by his Spirit with what else may be given me in thereby even as the Spirit shall give to express in what signification God shall please for the good of all that desire after him to whom this may come the which I commit to the Light in all Consciences to answer to the truth hereof desiring all that know me in the outward not to slight it because of the meanness of the outward vessel that wrote it but with care to weigh it over that God's Witness in you may answer for God hath made the poor in this world rich in
Faith and in times past and doubtless now also hath raised as it were things that are not to bring to nought those things which are contrary to him that he may have the Glory to Himself alone But however it may be received or rejected I shall rest in patience being content in that I feel am Acceptance with God in this my Obedience to him which is a sufficient Reward unto me who am known to the World by the name of John Whithouse The Doctrine of Perfection vindicated c. The Worlds Question VVHether is Perfection or freedom from all sin Quest to be attained in this life or no Yea Answ or else to no purpose was Christ made manifest in the flesh as may hereafter appear for in the lowest distance or alienation in the fall from God we are but the servants of sin and if by him we are not set free from the service thereof then what are we saved from or what are we the better by him for without him we are but so and if he leave us where he finds us which is to say in sin what then is he a Saviour from or how doth he effect that which is said of him For Sin and Imperfection is of the Devil 1 John 3.8 for the destroying of which he the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of all that believe in his Light and Son of the world was manifested and if this work be not effected by him then may we say he is insufficient and comes short of the end for which he was given for a Light to the Gentiles Isa 42.6 7. and to be Gods Salvation to the ends of the Earth who is the second Covenant which is not sound faulty as was the first which made nothing perfect Therefore was it taken away that the second Heb. 7.19 which is the better hope by which we draw nearer to God might be established so then shall I conclude with the world that the first made none of the comers thereto perfect nor the second neither God forbid For they who do believe and receive him who is the new and second Covenant Christ Jesus the true Light who enlightneth every man that cometh into the world to them as the Scripture saith he gives power to become the sons of God who are not born of flesh and blood neither of the will of man Joh. 1.12 13. but of God and who is so born sinneth not because God's Seed Christ Jesus abideth in him 1 John 3.9 Mal. 1.21 who is a Saviour thar saves his People from their sin and not in it they who know this know the Scripture to be true because it is fulfilled in them and can truly call Christ Lord because they do his Will and not their own but are dead thereto and are only alive to God bringing forth fruits of Righteousness the end of which is Life and Peace Rom. 8.3 13. All which is fulfilled in them who walk not after the flesh but through the Spirit of Life in Christ which makes free from sin and death and doth mortifie the deeds of the same These are they who through the washing of Regeneration in the work of mortification come to know and witness a cleansing from all sin and to have their Robes made white in the blood of the Lamb Heb. 9.26 who was made manifest to put away and make an end of all sin and to perfect for ever those that through the Spirit are thus sanctified Yea Object but saith the world Our Teachers * Rich. Baxter for one who are learned and wise tell us this Doctrine of Perfection is a dangerous tenent and the Doctrine of the Devil and not of Christ nor his Apostles but is a blasphemous Principle contrary to the Scriptures Now to this Answ I say You are not to believe all that your Teachers tell you but come down to the Light of Christ and hear these things tryed by it and the Scriptures also and hold fast that which is good Now this is the Record that God gave of his Son by his Servant Moses who prophesied saying Acts 3.22 A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you like unto me Him shall you hear in all things whatsoever he saith And it shall come to pass That whosoever will not hear and obey him shall be cut off from the Land of the Living And in like manner Mal. 3.3 to Him gave all the Prophets witness saying He shall come as a Refiners fire and as Fullers sope and shall thorowly purge the sons of Levi that they might offer an Offering to the Lord in Righteousness Mat. 3.12 Also John Baptist bare witness of him saying His Fan is in his hand and he will thorowly purge his Floor Mark that not in part he doth not say but thorowly And now he the Eternal and Everlasting true Light the chief and High-Priest over the Houshold of God the pure Purger Perfecter Cleanser and Fulfiller of all the Law and the Prophets Behold this is his Doctrine preached by him in the dayes of his flesh Be ye perfect Matth. 9.48 as your heavenly Father is perfect And now behold he is arisen in many sons and daughters by his quickening Spirit which hath raised them out of Sin and Death and through them is he preaching by Life and Doctrine the same as he lived in who is the same yesterday to day and for ever who is the perfect Pattern and finished his course in Perfection leaving it an Example for all that believe in him to follow So this is none of the Devil's Doctrine neither his Command but the Doctrine and Command of the Son of God who is not a hard nor an unjust master requiring that of his servants which he gives them not power to do but it is the slothful servant that makes not use of his talent but buries it in the Earth and then complains for want of power but they who receive the gift of God God giveth them power to do whatsoever he commandeth whose Commandments 1 Joh. 2 3.1.7 to them that follow him in faithfulness were not greivous but joyful who were washed and cleansed but not by themselves but by walking in the Light as God was in the Light so came they to witness the Blood of his Son to cleanse them not from some sin but all and so were made Ministers not of the Letter which killeth but of the Spirit which giveth Life and quickeneth unto Perfection and laboured to bring men thereto that they might present every man perfect in Christ in whom there is no sin for he was not sent to be a cloak to cover sin under his righteous garment but to destroy it and take it away slaying the carnal or fleshly mind which warreth against the soul working sin in the members upon the Cross which is spiritual or all spirit which Cross worketh inwardly bringing into subjection every vain thought and imagination
deeds of the flesh which breaks the Law by his powerful Spirit that you may follow it and your fruits may be unto Righteousness and you dead to the fruits of the flesh which is sin all your belief will avail you no more than the Jews unbelief did them which rather added to their condemnation than otherwise Therefore all come down to that of God made manifest in you and receive it with a willing mind and then you will feel it giving you that power which by all your own willing and striving out of it you could never obtain even to become the Sons of God and to know his Seed brought forth in dominion in you to abide and then you will come to know what that state was in which they were that could not sin 1 John 3.9 because they were born of God and his Seed remains in them by which they were kept so that the wicked one toucheth them not because greater was he that was in them than he that was in the world So unless you feel this wrought in you by him all your talk of him and his Righteousness will do you no good for as long as you commit sin the filth will follow it and the condemning of that which condemns sin in the flesh will follow you to the end of your race by which a fire will be kindled where the worm will never die neither goes it out and the Law against sin you will find to have its full force then because you rejected the Light through disobedience which would have destroyed for you that which transgressed the Law in you and as you had yeelded in obedience to it it would have fulfilled the Law in you by bringing forth fruits of holiness which the Law requireth and all your thoughts of being from under the Law will prove vain for it is said to be a Schoolmaster to bring unto Christ the Light and Lamb of God who takes away sin the which Gal. 3.24 except you are brought to and by him cleansed you will find the Law to stand in full force over you you being out of him who ends that which transgresseth it Jam. 2.10 even by slaying it upon the Cross which is the Power of God which over-comes or rather comes over and so brings under the power of the Devil which keeps man in bondage in sin so when you come to know this you will cease remembring his death at Jerusalem and will come to see how he hath been crucified in you and what it is that hath crucified him Rom. 6.10 and not onely so but will know a dying with him to the flesh and the fruits thereof and then shall you be quickened with him in the Spirit of Life in which you will live unto God which you will truly know when he comes to arise from the dead in you and to lead that captive which hath held him in captivity and oppressed him as a cart with sheaves who while you go astray bears the iniquity of you all and is crucified in that place which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt reade within and feel what I say then will you come to mourn over him whom you have pierced Rev. 1.7 And this verily I say unto you except you know his Crucifixion and Resurrection nearer you than Jerusalem even in you and arising with him out of the grave of sin and death and a living to God in the Spirit of Holiness which sets free from sin all your talking of his dying for your sin and arising for your justification while you have lived in sinning against his Light in your Consciences will never profit you any thing Ephes 5.14 Therefore arise thou that sleepest in sin and stand up to Judgment and hearken to that which calls out of sin which is the Spirit of Truth and it will give thee life if through death thou wilt follow it for no other way is there to come to life but thorow death to that which leads thee from God Gal. 3.19 therefore take up the Cross and kiss the Rod and it will whip thee out of sin and a new work in thee will begin Those that know this death are not under the Law but under Grace for the Law was added because of transgression in which if a man live and it live in him then is he under the Law for it takes hold on a man so long as he lives in sin which is the transgression thereof Tit. 2.11 but he that is dead to sin is not under it but is come to the Grace of God which leads him out of sin and teacheth him to live godly and righteously in this present evil world so then by Grace sin is done away and the Law fulfilled which requires a holy life which is brought forth in and through all that receive the Power of God which in Christ the Light is offered freely to all that he might be all in all both to will and to do that which man of himself could in no wayes do he having lost his first estate in which he had power over all things being fain into the bondage of the Devil and captivated by him at his will therefore God in his endless Love to lost man Rom. 8.3 4. sent his Son a Light into the world who for sin condemneth sin in the flesh which the Law without was too weak to do that the Righteousness of it might be fulfilled in all that obey and follow him Now such can truly witness he comes not to destroy the Law but to fulfil it in and for them which Law requires Perfection and Holiness without which a man shall never see God But saith the World Object Yea perfect in part so are accepted aâ— wholly perfect through Christ Nay Answ not in part say I but wholly even entire wanting nothing for the Law requires not a part but the whole and it is not a Perfection inferiour to what the Law requires but even the same if not a better that we are to be brought to by the power of the Lamb of God who takes away the imperfection of all that walk in his Light or else it cannot be said he fulfills it but leaves it unfulfilled and hath made a way by which man shal escape the condemnation of it though he live in transgression thereof which was not the end of his coming in the flesh that man should be accepted perfect because he lived in perfection but that the same perfect innocent harmless life might be brought forth by the operation of his Life which is the Light of men in our mortal bodies herein lies the acceptance if he come thus to live in us to make our sinful bodies conformable to that Body of his 2 Cor. 5.17 which was the perfect pattern then are we in him according as it is said He that is in Christ is a non creature old things are passed away and all is become new and all things