him which is his Seat and Kingdom in this world wherein alone he is known onely in the hearts of his people without which none knows him nor are reconciled to God by him and this is not to deny his Person but to exalt him as King in the heart and conscience for ever for he is worthy whose Kindom is righteousness I know what Christ did in his own person and do own and believe it and that righteousness he therein wrought and how therein he became the onely way to the Father the Truth and the Life and the Light of all the world set up for ever to lead to God and that therein he is the first and the last and there is none besides him with the Father an Advocate Mediator and Intercessor given of the Father into the world to that end that all men through him might be believe and be saved this I own and know and much more But that any can be saved by him without faith and obedience to him and walking in him who is the Way Light and Life onely by thinking they believed what he did at Jerusalem that I deny and that faith which is without works is no more than what the Devils hath which will not save them nor any else but in him is the Redemption not in a talk of him and he that is in sin is not in him for he that abides in him sins not nor hath any the benefit of what he is to a believer but as they receive his light that shews them sin and so turn to him by repentance till then what he is in his own person or hath done is so far from saving any that it is their condemnation that he is come a light into the world and they still walk in darkness and not in him And also whatever the Scripture doth declare of him I own and so do all who in the light dwell from which the letter was given forth and therefore be ashamed of thy lies that thou hast cast upon us in this part of thy book also which are not worth answering being most of them answered and denied in my answer to the other part of thy book to which also thou hast added in this such things as never entred into our hearts to do nor speak which thou most falsly accusest us withal as that we say That the Light which enlightens every man accusing of sin is Christ and God the Eternal and Just One and so the Redeemer and Saviour and the all to be known and believed That the returning into the Light again Man is restored and redeemed as at the beginning When we say It s the Light that leads to the bloud of cleansing c. 1 John 1. 6 7. That this Light as condemning of sin is the bloud and death of the cross the resurrection and second coming of the Son of God That the Law and Gospel Faith and Obedience Death Resurrection Redemption Justification and Sanctification are not things distinct but one and the same within us That we deny the Person of Christ as the object of Faith That we deny Faith it self as the evidence of things not seen That we affirm in effect that Christ is divided That we affirm that Paul and every Christian are crucified and made an offering for himself That we say the Light in every man is Christ the Redeemer That the Law from which Christ came to deliver us is called and worshipped by us as the Redeemer and Spirit That the Quakers say that Christ took on him our nature but not our judgment and sin That Christ died at Jerusalem but as an example but not as a Sacrifice That he did not the work by himself at once but onely shewed the way That we reckon Christ to be such a one as was the Priest and Levite that passed by the wounded man That we deny the dead body and flesh of Christ to be the onely way into the inward life That nothing will serve us but to tear out of your faith and knowledge and profession the bloud of atonement redemption and reconciliation by that our sacrifice once for ever That we deny that Christ in the body of his flesh through that obedience to death be crucified our old man purged away sin made reconciliation for iniquity and perfected for ever all that are sanctified Which thing we do not deny to all that are sanctified but to you who are yet in your sins we do else we should lie as you do That we agree with the Papists in this that works or obedience to some Law or Rule is the way to redemption perfection and God That we deny the Jesus that died and therein by bloud and spirit perfected us for ever by himself That we affirm that God requires the same obedience of our selves as he did of Christ and so we conclude we must be justified by the works of the Law slandering us that we teach Christ onely as an Allegory That we make faith void and the bloud of Christ of none effect And divers more deceits out of thy own blind heart hast thou made up into lies and laid upon us as though we said them when they are but thy own blindness of heart and wilful wickedness in all which it is clearly seen that thou dost not mind any thing of God in thee to guide thy tongue or to lead thee to do as thou wouldest be done by And therefore because thou hast rejected the light of Christ and set thy self by thy lies to oppose it therefore art thou given over to blindness of heart and to make lies thy covering and as thou hast chosen them against the light so shalt thou be filled therewith and covered with thick darkness so into thy bowels be they returned and the truth cleared And as for thy whole work it is judged by all who have the knowledge of the life of God and its workings in them and who hath a love to Righteousness such as know his work and who it is as works it will not change that faith that reveals the workings of redemption and freedom from every particular sin in their measures daily and peace thereby from condemnation by the presence of him that works all their works in them such will not change their faith for a fancy of what thou imagines was done for thee thou knows not when where nor doth the effects thereof appear further than a talk with all the world Onely thy doctrine will be acceptable to such as would be saved but the way of God is too strait who likes not to bear the Cross by which living Redemption is now wrought a Redemption in a talk is very pleasing to such that they may live with the world while they live and be separated from them when they die Also such as have got a wound from the Lord in their hearts and consciences for their selfish wicked wayes to such thy salve of justification from sin before they commit it
conscience and not in a book without which mystery thou that denies all in the conscience art void on who falsly sayes The light in the conscience is the same with the Law in the letter Concerning Baptism c. ANd thou sayes my profession herein is That the baptism of Christ thou understands the light within all men But from what dost thou understand it for by me it was never spoken nor thought so that its from thy dark spirit that cannot understand to speak true and so given to lies was there ever such a pack of lies heaped together as though thou hadst resolved not to speak a true sentence in whatever thou speaks of me for this shall appear that not one of thy Charges hitherto are truth or what I spoke but thou hast made lies and then disproves them shewing thy art and trading to be onely there for the truth I write stands still untouched And notwithstanding all this filth thou tels us of a mystery we know not that is That you were washed sanctified and justified before you were Which indeed is non sense and a lie to say that which is not can be washed or sanctified or justified and in that sense it is a mystery indeed But whatever was before thou were thou art now a servant of Satan and his work thou dost and art not washed from thy wickedness And if the washing and justifying of a thing that is not can justifie thee in thy wickedness this is a large faith it s no wonder though thou be so bold in thy wickedness Yet this I say it s a late invented faith to wit that washing nothing will make thee clean For the Saints washing sanctifying and justifying was when they had forsaken their sins and without washing from their sins which they had committed they could not enter into the Kingdom of God read 1 Cor. 6. 9 10 11. And their way to washing was to walk in the light 1 John 1. 7. a thing the devil and his dark born brood loves not above all that can be named any other conjurations or imaginations they will own but away with the light that 's an error that deserves not to live But the beleiving of this thou sayes sprinkles from your hearts an evil conscience that is indeed though you sin it troubles not your hearts you beleive that you was washed and justified before you was begotten or born and once justified alwayes justified and so you make no conscience what you do that is the evil that troubles your conscience when you sin but your faith hath sprinkled you from that evil conscience and now you have no more conscience of sin for that in the conscience that is pure and testifies against sin is but legal and you are not under the Law but under Grace and this is a mystery that tender consciences knows not and so are but weak and foolish and under bondage but you are grown Christians grown in the faith above such folly when indeed it is but the Ranter that is got up and joyned with the Devil in a design to cast off the yoak and get liberty for the beast that cannot endure the cross and so hath devised away with the old Murtherer to slay the Witnesses and then make merry over them You have a mystery none know but your selves other fools that knows not your faith stands to repent of their sins if they sin and cannot be at peace till God speak peace in their conscience but your sin was pardoned before you was born and you are not so foolish to make conscience of it now you will have no more of that conscience for sin you was once purged from sin when you were not and can sin now under that which God once did in Christ to think so was to deny the person of the man Christ Jesus who hath done all that belongs to you one thousand six hundred years since And now to fear that any thing you can do in your persons can make that ineffectual were great unbelief and legal and bondage of spirit and if this be not your faith and the effects of it let both thy judgment in thy book and thy practise witness Concerning the Lords Supper ANd in this I must not escape thy tongue charging me to say that I have not spoken yet not so quite contrary to my intent as in the others yet things that are utterly false hast thou cast on the truth As that we esteem the eating the flesh of Christ but a moral thing And that the Gospel-mystery is with us become a doctrine of bare morality c. Things devised in thy own heart And thou sayes To see God in all things to discern him as the body and vertue of all Creatures and to use all things in moderation is no more than Pagan divinity Is this all the effect and end of the bloud of Christ I say that is not all the end and effect of his bloud but it is one good effect and a great deal more than yet it hath wrought in thee thou doest not yet see God in all things unless thou wilt say thou sees him in lying slandering and cursed speaking And that thou and thy Prosclites are not come to use all things in moderation let your pride covetousness and excess be witness against you he thou a vitness against thy self and the rest of thy Ranting crew who use the bloud of Christ for an occasion to the flesh and a cloak for your liberty therein that Pagan divintiy is better than yours and if the Pagan divinity bring forth these fruits which your divinity doth not I shall say as Paul said concerning the Gentiles They are the beleivers who bring forth the fruits of faith and you are the â—fidels who justifie your selves before either faith or works and without them But did the Apostle teach Pagan divinity when he said Let your moderation be known to all men the Lord is at hand Phil. 4. 5 And did Christ teach Pagan divinity when he said Take heed least at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and cares of this life and so that day come upon you unawares Luke 21. 34 Was these Pagans that taught this or are they Pagans who see God in all things I shall rather chuse to be numbred amongst those Pagans than to be one of thy Beleivers self-justified without either faith or works Thou sayest Whoeuer looks into the mystery of Christs death may see the first Adam with all his deeds and the world with all its works all old things done away I say be witness against thy self that thou never saw that mystery in whom the first Adam with the worlds works and old things are yet alive Thou sayest The Lord ordained the Supper for a rudiment to all that should have need thereof It seems thou judges some to have no need of it but was not thou condemning me even now for saying discerning him to be the body
confusion and contradictions gathered together Are these thy ballance with which thou art weighing us which thou tels of Or is this a standing measure which staggereth to and fro like a drunken man contradicting and confounding thy self till there be not a word thou sayes will stand which is unconfounded from thy own mouth Is not here Babels foundation discovered to the weakest eye opened in any heart But this is brought to pass by the Lord for the Nations must not long be deceived with your witchcrafts whoredoms he is laying open to the people with what you have fed them and where with all you have covered them and how you have made them to trust in confusion and brought forth a lie for their salvation wherein you have made them to rejoyce over the slain and to trust in emptiness putting the Lord afar off and casting the Law of his Covenant behind your backs but now your skirts is laying open and your filthiness appears your hearts void of righteousness your tongues must needs utter confusion One thing more of thy false doctrine before I pass from this particular and that is That men are justified and sin washed away before either faith or works and this thou affirms in plain words which is a strange doctrine and indeed a doctrine of devils which denies the faith and sets up an imagination in its stead for if we be justified and sin washed away before either faith or works then are we not justified by faith for we cannot be justified by that which is not And if this doctrine be true that men are justified before either faith or work then is not faith of absolute necessity a man may be saved without it for he that is justified and his sin washed away cannot be damned he that will beleive this doctrine of thine need not matter much what he do this faith is that with which you lead people without faith of God to make no conscience of sin but beleive that they are purged though they feel themselves servants of sin and in bondage thereto Concerning Hope ANd the thing thou charges me with in this is That I say to hope that that of God in every man or a Christ may be revealed to take away sin to give freedom from sin in this life is the pure the reasonable hope that makes not ashamed In this thou hast mixed a truth and a lie together and they must be severed that the truth may be owned and the lie returned to the founder That of God in every man can take away sin that is thine own take it again but that Christ may be revealed in this to take away sin that hope I own and am not ashamed thereof which thou seems to oppose Another charge thou layes upon me is that I say To hope salvation while the Witness in the conscience condemns of sin is the Devils hope Which accusation is utterly false and the words not so spoken by me for I own a hope before the Conscience be wholly purified which hope leads to the purifying and that is holden forth by me several times and therefore am far off from calling that the devils hope But my words are these But the Devil hath begot another hope as like this as may be in his servants which stands in another ground and brings forth another fruit and that is though they be servants of sin yet there is hopes of salvation and such hopes as may not be judged nor questioned although the witnese of God in the Conscience doth testifie the contrary yet it must not be heeded least they be deluded so where the Devil is become a teacher a tender Conscience must be resisted and such a hope set up as holds that to hope in Christ within is to deny the presence of Christ c. and many such expressions there is which clearly shews how thou hast perverted my words contrary to all reason and honesty to slander withal that because I condemn that hope to be of the Devil which hopes not freedom from sin as well as freedom from hell that therefore I condemn him that hopes for salvation while yet the Conscience is not wholly purged But to come to thy doctrine thou sayest To rest in hope that thou art saved already from sin and wrath in Christ the Head whilest Conscience condemns thee of sin this is the hope of faith against the hope of the Law and Conscience I say to hope for freedom from sin whilest yet the Conscience condemns for sin this hope I own which is not against the Conscience but leads to a pure Conscience But thou that hopes that thou art already saved from sin and wrath whilest thou art a servant of sin and the wrath of God appears to condemn thee for sin in thy Conscience thou art he that hopes in a lie for he that is the servant of sin is not already freed from sin thou may well say this hope is against the Conscience and against the Law of God also such a hope as none of the Children of God never hoped in whose rejoycing was the testimony of their Conscience and their hope was according to a good Conscience but never hoped against their Conscience 2 Cor. 1. 12. Diddest thou not in thy last say That men must be justified by the law of the Spirit according to conscience and saved by the answer of a good Conscience And doest thou now tell them That the hope of grace and faith is against Law and Conscience or sense and feeling Is not this to make the law void by that which thou cals grace and to makesh pwrack of a pure Conscience and so become past feeling like those thou may read on Ephes 4. 18 19. Further thou goes on and sayes That hope that is begotten not by the letter but by the inhabiting or abiding Spirit there it is a hope beholding the glory of the Lord and changing the creature into his Image that hope sees the love of the Father shed forth upon us in the bloud of Atonement c. But how apt art thou to forget thy self Diddest thou not in thy last forewarn all for looking to any thing whether good or evil in the heart and conscience within And is it now by that inhabiting and abiding Spirit that reveals the blood of Atonement and finishes all sin So by thy doctrine it is within in the inhabiting and abiding Spirit that sees the bloud of Attonement but thou hast fore warned all not to look at it nor at any thing within good or evil And yet sayes We are saved through faith according to the inward man and much such like confused stuffe which is weariness to repeat after thee were it not for the seeds sake that they may be led out of thy deceit Is not this a strange doctrine to say that we are saved through faith according to the inward man and yet must not look to any thing in the heart or conscience be it good or bad
Christ are one thing from the beginning of the world in Christ in whom ever he is according to its several measure and ends but if thou intend Creature works though the most refined that ever was I utterly deny them and thy accusation as false like the rest and so having cleared the truth from thy slanders and set it where it was I shall come to thy doctrine And thou speaks of the everlasting onely righteousness upon all that beleive and that it is as a spiritual heaven large enough to take in and cover the second creation I say that is true But what is that to thee that art in the first creation It doth not cover thee thy wickedness is seen thy lies are laying open thy nakedness appears and thy folly to all men Onely thou sayest thou reckonest thy self to be so though it be not so felt I say I know it there were ever a generation that justified themselves but were not just before God and thine will be found no other who reckons thy self justified by that which thou hast neither seen felt nor handled And thou sayes Thou thinks it necessary to give warning that all approaches unto or converses with the Majesty and glory of God by any redemption or operation of whatsoever spirit or light within where the redemption in the person of Christ is excluded To which I say Thou shews thy dark busie mind and what thou knows of approaches to God or converses with his majesty and glory who imagines that that can be where the redemption of Christ is excluded Thou sayes But if any ask how thou art redeemed while sin is in thee thou sayest the Father he laid your sins upon Christ to take them away and the Spirit bears witness that all things are finished I say that is true where repentance and faith is where by the creature denies himself and comes to Christ there Christ takes the sins away But thy sins are there yet and thou a servant thereof and the Spirit bears witness in the conscience against thee for it and the best way thou hast to peace is to stifle the witness of the Spirit in thy conscience and exhort others not to heed it Thou sayes Through faith thou receives Christ into thy self and thou art received into him and through this oneness art made righteousness life and light But how oft hast thou denied this or any thing within to be looked unto Art thou now become righteousness life and light thy self and was condemning it as great error in me in thy last to witness good works in Christ Art thou become righteousness thy self light and life and wilt thou not allow another to testifie the works of Christ in him Thy charity is either selfish or thou knows not what thou sayes and ere thou go out of that page thou contradicts it thy self again denies redemption by the operation of that Spirit that is within us so that which makes thee righteousness life and light by thy doctrine cannot work redemption and thus thou tottereth to and fro having undertaken a business and would seem to say something and so being out of the light makes up a heap of confusion And as thou begins with a lie so thou ends saying That I say that all the works and measures performed by the Creature in obedience to the light within do but all compleat the one work of the Creature redemption And when thou hast told this falshood thou sets down a story of Luther wherein he divides Abraham and his righteousness as far a sunder as between heaven and earth So to answer thee and thy story I shall produce one plain Scripture from James 2. from the 14. to the end of the Chapter Was not thou even now telling of being made righteousness into thy self and now brings a story to divide Abrahams righteousness as far from him as heaven from earth and much such staggering thou makest but the end of all is to keep righteousness out of the door that thy master may have liberty within Concerning Election and Reprobation ANd this thou begins to lay a foundation with a lie and what thy building is like to be may be easily judged Thou sayeth I say That the light in every man which reproves of sin is Christ And when thou hast told that lie and denied it again then thou confessest what I say that Christ is the elect seed but dare not say that any one is elected who is not in that seed onely thou tels a blind story that thou was redeemed before thou was born but art yet a servant of the devil who was a liar from the beginning and his works thou art doing onely thou conceits thou art redeemed and such a redemption the prophanest I know in the Nation claims it with thee upon the same ground and hath as good right as thou hast for any thing yet thou hast made manifest Concerning the new Birth HEre thou sets on work in thy old manner as one that cannot cease from sin First Thou chargeth me to say That by abiding in the seed or light within every man thereby the old man is put off with his deeds Secondly That I call the light the eternal Spirit Thirdly That I make the body and bloud of Christ no more but a figure of the body and bloud within that is the light within all men Fourthly And that my end is to press through unto God by an Atonement and mediation to be made in our bodies that is obedience to the light within And when thou hast told these four horrible lies on me then thou goes on in thy doctrine but dare not gain say one word of what I have written but runs into thy old confusion and sayes The new Creature is not a Jew seeking salvation in the letter or Conscience nor a Gentile worshipping God by the light and sayes the worlds light is a candle from the Lord saying do this and live And divers more such confusions which hath no truth in them neither hast thou any proof for them with sundry accusations and slanders thou goes on which are nothing to the purpose as to the thing in hand and having forme ly denied them I shall not here rake in them but let them not with thee Then thou speaks of persecution thou sayest They that followed after the Spirit and teachings thereof were alwayes persecuted by the children of the letter Where thou might read thy self were not thou blind who art breathing out all these lies against us for owning Christ his light within us for our teacher guide for which thy mischeivous mind would make people believe we deny the person of Christ because we own him in spirit when in truth none can own his person but who sees him in the light the rest are the children of the letter and hath no ministration else to know Christ by who can imagine from the History but are void of the Mystery which is held in a pure
9 10. 1 Thes 4. 3. 1 Tim. 2. 4. These with many other Scriptures will prove what I have said prove thy consequence as thou canst Thou sayes also If the second be so then the Law and free grace is the same So by thy doctrine and consequence if that Comforter Christ speaks on which reproves the world of sin and the light of Christ be free grace then the law and free Grace are the same a strange consequence like the former Is not the light of the world free grace John 8. 12. John 16. 8. and the Spirit of God free grace If that be not then what is seeing Christ and the Spirit is denied Further sayest thou If the light God hath put into all men be the gift of grace the gift of heavenly righteousness by Christ wherein is the end of the law and sin heeded I say what thou intends by thy consequence by sin heeded let the Reader judge if he can but that the light is the gift of grace that I own and wert not thou blind thou would not imagine any light of God given to man which is not the gift of grace it must either be of grace or of works and what work hast thou done to obtain the gift of Christ light Thou sayes If the third be so then there is that in the natural man whereby he is able to know and receive the things of the Spirit I say Thy Charge in this is a lie not my words and thy consequence is of the same vote and so to thee I leave them being thy own work to say and gainesay but that the light of Christ who ever minds it and follow it is able to lead to receive the things of the Spirit that I have proved John 8. 12. and divers other places Another deceit to cast a mist over the light is thou sayes The deep things of God his grace in Christ sparkling in the old time now in one promise now in another and foretold by the Prophets whereof the Righteousness of the Fews Philosophers and Grecks knew nothing this cannot be discovered by the clearest light in the natural man I say Here are two deceits covered in this first as though none of the Jews or Saints did discern this before Christ came at Jerusalem the second as though the clearest light with which Christ enlightneth men within could not lead to the discerning of him which are both contrary to Christs words who saith Abraham saw my day and to the Prophets he was born Isaiah 9. 6. And saith Christ I am the light of the world he that follows me shall have the light of life John 8. 12. And so with the words of truth thy mist is driven away and the truth cleared from thy deceits And then as thou begun thy work with lies so thou ends with two lies more thou casts upon us That we level the mystery of the second Adam and the restoring of all things in him to be no other thing but Law and Reason Secondly That we make the death of Christ of none effect and the whole mystery of grace in him But seeing thou dost falsly slander us herein I shall state the case truly as it is in this Question Whether they that believe Christ died at Jerusalem and witness his bloud in them whereby their hearts are sprinkled and washed from lying deceit and pride and uncleanness by the in-dweiling of Christ in them so kept according to the measure of Christ revealed in Spirit Or they who say that Christ died at Jerusalem but deny him in them to redeem and save them from the power of sin or his bloud in them to sprinkle and wash them daily from dead works Or any light of his whatsoever either within or without to be exercised in to freedom and perfection but say they were washed sanctified and justified before they came into the world but in the world are found liars and false accusers and deceitful teachers this being the true case between thee and us I leave it to the wise to judge who it is that denies Christ Jesus the everlasting Priest which abideth for evermore to every generation and who it is that makes his bloud of none effect as to wash away sin and to restore all things to God and whether the effect of the bloud of Christ be to take away sin or to talk on whereby to plead for sin against the present being and effect thereof to wit to keep out of the Devils works Now who owns the bloud of Christ let the effect manifest to all men And know thou that the bloud of Christ is not words not imaginations of what thou never see before thou was born but a living substance which is to be known with its effect to every particular Saint in every generation and such who say they are saved by the bloud of Christ before they were but now are found in their sins are such as deny the bloud of Christ and to them they make it of none effect who are not washed and they who say they was purged sanctified and justified before they were and now when they are are unclean boasts of that they never saw and trusts in a lie for talking what Christ was by the history is one thing which all have and believe and yet abide in condemnation and without further may perish but to learn Christ in the mystery of faith which is held in a pure Conscience is another and onely such know him aright both what he did at Jerusalem and the end of it who follow him now in spirit and have fellowship in his death and sufferings and so attains to his resurrection in the spirit and life and so follow in his life and righteousness such onely confess him and shall not therein be condemned Much more might be said to lay open thy deceits in thy other part of thy book but my life is not to rifle in such heaps of confusion were it not that I am forced to it for clearing the truth from false Teachers who are wholly ignorant of the mystery of faith which is held in a pure Conscience and so know nought but in the natural comprehensions as brute beasts judging of the great mystery of God and his redemption to stand in visibles and carnal things times and places which things in their carnal wisdom they make use on to fight against the spiritual appearance of Christ in the Creature without which there can be neither life nor redemption No Christ himself onely known after the flesh brings no man to God but Christ revealed in spirit from heaven that everlasting Light and Glory of the Father the eternal Spirit and Comforter that could not come till he went away in the flesh And if his presence was not the full accomplishment of the great promise of the Father and the Son but he must go away in the flesh out of their carnal sight no more to be in the world carnally but in
they ever see feel or know but within for it is the Spirit that searcheth and reveals all things even the deep things of God now is there any man that knows any thing as he ought to know but by Christ enlightening his understanding within that work thou opposing shews thy blindness and opposition to Scripture as may be seen Many more such like errors hast thou which are directly opposite to the Spirit of God and plain Scripture such as indeed give Christ a name to have lived and died in his own person at Jerusalem but doth wholly strike at his eternal life and the everlasting offering his long suffering his death and the fellowship of it and his resurrection his enlightening leading and salvation in Spirit within without which no man can be saved nor know Christ but as the Devil may know him and in plain truth strikes at his everlasting Name as he is an everlasting King and Saviourin his people to wash to order to judge to give laws and statutes to save and redeem from every particular sin in every one of his from one generation to another by his present in-dwelling who is the same yesterday to day and for ever where he is marifest inflesh to take away sin And by talking of his bloud at Jerusalem makes his bloud of none effect as he is an everlasting Priest by an everlasting Priesthood not as in one generation but for ever stands offered up to the Father with his bloud in the everlasting Covenant an atonement making and besprinkling the hearts and consciences of every one of his by the bloud of his everla sting Covenant which not being done by faith within makes that at Jerusalem of none effect as to that person And this is the same Spirit that in the Law cryed the Temple the Temple but to withstand him who was the everlasting Temple and substance of the visible which now cries the body and bloud at Jerusalem but to withstand the end of that blood which is to wash and cleanse from all sin and to purge every Conscience from dead works without which that at Jerusalem is made void and without its effect and as the Devil could keep then them blind in the Temple worship but he in their hearts and they doing his work so doth he now by crying the death at Jerusalem and keeping from the fellowship of it within he keeps sin alive and the creature captivated therein at his will and makes them believe they were cleansed before they were born but still in the same iniquity the Jews was in if not worse and cries up a great benefit they have by Christs coming and that they are under grace but still in the power of Satan and his works done in the body where Christ should dwell so that in truth this is all the benefit that is found in such more than the Jews had but a talk of Christ at Jerusalem as the other did of the Temple at Jerusalem but both without that in them which is the life of all visibles and invisibles even the in-dwelling of Christ to redeem them from the power of sin and the world but these cry we are redeemed by the bloud of Christ before we were though we commit sin that cannot hinder our redemption we are delivered though we be inclosed up in a body of sin yet are we in Christ at the very same time in the heavenly Righteousness far above all sin as thou sayes which indeed is no more but an imagined freedom and a lie and is found no more in substance nor before God is there any differenceat all between a servant of sin the Jews time and a servant of sin now but onely that you cause the Name of Jesus to be evil spoken on through the world and sin against his light and grace more than they did and make the sufferings of Christ at Jerusalem a cloak for the Devil to carry his works under and bring them forth Neither did ever any Child of light profess such a faith to wit that they were washed and justified when they were not which is a meer fixion of the brain and no faith but a peice of non-sense to say we were justified sanctified and washed before we were as though that which is filthy may be made clean by washing a thing that is not and by justifying a thing that is not you are just before God in all manner of filthiness and so in an airy conceit of justifying of nought you imagine you are saved Neither did ever any of the children of light say that they was justified before faith as thou dost produce thy brother amongst all the Saints that was of this faith thou talks of Papists and false Opinions I say none like this not a Ranter in England hath a larger faith nor hath the Devil such a way in all the works to keep people out of the fear of God repentance for sin or being guided by the Light and Spirit of Christ out of the Devils work and so redeemed out of condemnation Was there ever such a deceit as the Devil hath blinded you withal to live in your sin and bondage to Satan denying the Light of Christ in you and when he lets you see your bondage and his enemy and what way you should escape the pollutions of the world and his wrath that is against you by his light in your consciences Then you call that a spirit of bondage and say you are not under that you are redeemed from minding any thing within in the conscience and thus at once make shipwrack of a pure conscience and the mystery of faith therein and run in hand with the Devil to believelies That you was clean before you was born shall be clean when you are dead and your sins now cannot change Gods purpose nor make his love more or less to you and so with a brazened face setup a way and faith and preach it that though you be closed up in sin and wicked in your life soul and body and all you are yet you are righteous before God and that which you now love and live in must not be charged upon you And when the enemy hath got you into this deceit and thereby slain the witness of God in you which should reprove you of sin and keep you in his fear and your hearts tender then are you fit instruments for his work to withstand the spiritual appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ in his Saints and for that purpose hath he fill'd your hearts with lies and deceits to cast in the way of the truth and upon them that profess it as thou hast done in this thy book slandering us to deny the Person of Christ for no other thing but because we witness the end of his appearance in person which is his indwelling for ever in our hearts by faith there to sit as King and Priest to all generations taking dominion over whatever in the heart is contrary to
and salvation and that he will judge the works of the Law as well as the lusts of the flesh and that the spirit of Christ in his people shall judge both Angels and mens spiritual and fleshly wickness To which I say Some of this is truth and we shall try the rest First What work of the Law is it that God will judge doest thou intend that law by which thou confessed before all that believe are justified from that from which they could not be justified by the Law of Moses If thou intend that Law I deny thy doctrine for the works of that Law of the Spirit of life by which we are justified are the works of Christ where with he fulfils the Law in his Saints and so are works of the Spirit and shall never come into judgement and if thou mean not that Law to me it matters not I shall not contend with thee about any other of thy imaginations And whereas thou tels of Christs coming forth in this age in righteousness and salvation and to judge and that it is the Spirit of Christ in his People that must be the Judge both of Angels and men in this his appearance Hast not thou in the rest of thy Book as much as in thee lies done what thou canst to oppose this his appearance who hast all along denied any thing within to be looked unto for righteousness salvation and judgement yea and ere thou get out of the same thing thou art contradicting it again and sayes Law or form or light within are the principles of judgment with most But sayest thou It is a small thing for the spiritual man to be judged by any of these What confusion is this of thine thou bringest forth in opposition to the light Must the Spirit of Christ in his people judge both Angels and men spiritual and fleshly and yet thou speaks scornfully of the light within and thrusts it in with law and form to make it odious It seems thou canst not endure that the Spirit of Christ should be called light in his people it must be darkness there it seems or else not owned by thee Another lie thoutels of John saying That he did not call to the light within every man and sayest no Prophet spake of him by the light c. But it seems thou hast not much read the Prophets or else art wickedly ignorant for all that read them may find them prophesying of a Covenant of light and John saith who saw him this is the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world Concerning Perfection ANd after thy usual manner thy first work is a lie saying That my principal matter is that perfection is that gift or light in every man Another lie is that I say Imperfection came in by the ministry of Antichrist When the matter of my words are That God and Christ is perfection and doth not say the gift is perfection yet I own that every gift of God is perfect yet God himself the perfection of all I also say that imperfection came in by the Devil and maintained by his Ministers who uses all means to supplant truth where it is and to keep up imperfection in the world And thy lies being taken away the truth stands untouched though many words thou usest yet dare not deny what I have written in the least particular Onely thou asks some questions which thou hast raised out of thy own brain not at all what I say Thy Questions are first Was Christ in the flesh no more than a Preacher or example of perfection 2. Was that fulness of the Godhead in him no more than such a light as God hath set up in every man 3. Or was his bearing of our sins and the wounds for our iniquities no more but to shew how we should bear them in our selves I say Yes He was more than all these three for he in himself alone wrought redemption broke through all difficulties opened the way of life for all Creatures became a Sacrifice acceptable to the Father and triumphed openly over death the grave and hell and much more that may be spoken of him which he did in his own person and not onely so but is now an everlasting offering from generation to generation an everlasting light preached in every Creature whereby they may receive the faith which without it they cannot whereby to see him in themselves appearing from heaven in Spirit as Leader and Teacher Judge and Law-giver and in his light to lead and his life to strengthen all that beleive in the same way wherein he walked in his own person who left an example when he ascended for all to follow which will be saved which none can follow nor be saved but who are led by his light and quickened by his Spirit within them though they talk never so much of him at Jerusalem without them And this is that which the Devil is an enemy to to wit that Christ should be owned in the hearts of any as Leader Teacher King and Law-giver and with his light to enlighten every dark part thereof so that every motion of God is seen and received and every motion of the Devil is seen and resisted even unto blood here is little hope for the Devils Kingdom where this light is received and followed there the soul is redeemed from the deeds of the devils darkness therefore he sets on work all his instruments wherein he hath any interest to cry out against this light within for if this light shine in the heart then his seat must be discovered and the knowledge of God seen in the face of Jesus and as any come to know God in the light they will be led out of his service so you stand up from all Quarters who wear his dark livory crying out against the light of Christ within charging all not to hearken to any voice within nor mind any thing there good nor bad that he may keep that place for his kingdom And to him you are faithful to the uttermost of your power who are all gathered together in this day of battel to fight against the Light of which thou art not the least who cryest out against all light whatsoever either from within or without for any to be exercised in for freedom from sin But are you not blind above all that ever was before you who have so many Scriptures declaring the Lambs war against all sorts of Spirits yet never find them warring against the Spirit of light but with that Spirit of light in them did they make warr against the Prince of darkness and all his dark principles in his children Foolish men how long will it be before you look at your feet and what way you are going and try your selves whose message you carry who are preaching that which none of you have seen for salvation The Saints message was the light both for fellowship and to lead to the bloud of cleansing John 1. 6 7.
But thy message is not any thing which is called light whatsoever either from within or without for redemption and here thou art seen to be he that preaches another Gospel They preached the Gospel of light and thy Gospel is no light whatsoever so thou art accursed and they that follow thee in that faith which denieth all light whatsoever Concerning Obedience IN this thou makes divers things of thine own never spoken nor thought by me thou sayes They are the sum of things spoken by me which indeed are but the foam of thy slanderous spirit As first As to be guided in obedience to the spirit or light within us as Christ was by the Spirit of the Father in him that is the righteousness of Christ that the Father cals for the same obedience of the beleiver as of Christ and that I say we are perfectly justified by Christs obedience when we perform obedience in the same measure he did And divers other untruths hast thou forged thereby to slander the truth as though I held forth two obediences as one of Christs and another of the Creatures And that the Creature must come up as high in his obedience as Christ did in his and such like wicked stuffe thou utters as one having sold thy self thereto bending thy tongue like a bow for lies to shoot at the truth in secret but thy arrows must peirce thy own bowels and the Archer into the wilderness must be driven but the truth shall stand for ever And all that reads what I have written may see that I have denied all sorts of obedience from Scriptures or others wrought by man or in mans will and owns onely that everlasting obedience that is in Christ to which every one must give up themselves as is oftentimes repeated by me That it is no more we that live but Christ that liveth in us and no further than we partake of his obedience in us are we accepted with the Father as Obedient children which might have stopt the mouth of the Liar hadst thou not done it wickedly And when thou hast done thou pretendest to reprove thy lying slanders with the same spirit of slander giving out filthy words of thine own as though I had lifted up my self equal with the Person of Christ to persorm the same obedience for the purging away of sin c. Oh thou full of all subtilty and wickedness where did I ever set up my self equal with Christ or ever set up any obedience of mine distinct from his or ever spoke of self obedience for the purging away of sin canst thou behold this thy wickedness and not be ashamed or didst thou think ever to account for thy words thy heart could not but tremble at this wickedness but the devil having set up an opinion in thee of being justified without faith or repentance for all thy sins past present and to come like the Pope hath given thee a dispensation to wickedness so that there is now no stop to thy tongue whatsoever he moves thee to say for to advance his kingdom of darkness thou art ready at his command Thou sayes Thou art one of the least in thy Fathers house But it seems by thy language thou hast been an apt Scholler and very diligent in his service and thou must look for thy wages when thy work thou hast finished Thou cals them Pagans who design not to know another way to divine glory than Christ did and sayes That way is but the depth of Satan Oh thou blasphemer Is it the depth of Satan to follow Christ in his way and not to design another Sure the other way thou hast designed is lying and deceit for that way I find thee in but the Way Christ Jesus I own and so far as I am led therein by the same power so I walk and it is not I but Christ in me who is the Way and the Life whose way is not without a Mediator as thou would make it to cover thy blasphemy for calling it a depth of Sathan for if that way he walked in was without a Mediator then was there a time when he was not a Mediator Thou asks me If I have not the fulness of the Godhead in my self I say In self it is not but of Christ I receive of the same fulness And many other Questions thou asks which are all in him wherein is my treasure walking in the same way who is the mystery to be beleived and example to be followed which is not two things as thou falsly sayes but one Thou sayes He put an end to the enmity and all evils in himself I say That is true but he hath not put an end to it in thee there it lives and reigns as thy lying and confusion may witness Thou sayes As thou art in the second Adam thou neither knows law reason nor sense I say It seems so by thy practise Thou sayes Nothing brings forth Christ more as a Spirit of wisdom power and holiness within thee unto good works then when thou beholds him as made righteousness and sanctification to thee without works I say stop thy mouth and utter not thy confusion Is Christ made righteousness and sanctification to some without works And is he now become the spirit of holiness within thee unto good works who hath so oft denied any thing within to be minded in heart or conscience Other lies thou tels Of dyings and obedience in us being made the way to justification in Christ and that by my doctrine ne are justified as much by the obedience of Paul as by the man Christ And such like fulthy things which follow thy own brain and not my doctrine neither can any honesty gather any such thing there from but the unclean spirit is vexed that I deny a justification before faith and with out righteousness Concerning good works ANd here thou charges me falsly also As that I should hold out the creature obedience unto the light which reproves of sin and is bringing forth the fruits of it for good works and for redemption which is utterly false for my account is that all should wait in the light of Christ and abide in it until the living word they come to hear and receive in their hearts whereby the dead comes to be raised to life which was dead in trespasses and sins and that spiritual man being quickened the power of the Spirit brings forth in him the work of Gods righteousness which was from everlasting and this is another thing than the Creature working onely from that light that reproves sin so that my words doth exhort such to stand still till they see the salvation of God and the word of his power revealed therein by which he must be created or wrought into the good work that he may walk therein Another thing thou sayes that I say the obedience or righteousness in Christ for justification and good works in us are one thing I say That the works of God and righteousness in