like Gods they are as Gods to themselves for as God made all things for himself to be glorified in them so as much as in them lieth they make all things their own to satisfie and please themselves in them and yet please themselves with a hope that God will forgive them all their sins and that they shall be like God at last And thus when the Serpent had prevailed in his temptations with the woman that they should not surely die but that their eyes should be opened and they should be as Gods knowing good and evil and that the woman saw the Tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eye and a Tree to be desired to make one wise then she took of the fruit thereof and did eat The fruit of the Tree was wilful disobedience she eat she satisfied her self with a desire after the knowledge of good and willingly neglected her obedience to God she knew Gods mind and will what she should do but did not obey God in that she knew to be Gods will that she ought to obey him in but instead of yielding obedience to God in what she knew of God the Serpent telling her that their eyes should be opened that was to see more or better than they did see as much in difference as is between seeing with the eyes as if they were shut and the seeing with them wide open And this must be understood as to the understanding and knowing part in man for none can be so ignorant as to think that the eyes of their bodies were not open before the temptation but it is the eye of the understanding and knowledge that was to be opened by yielding to the temptation to know more of God than they did know of him And by this the woman was carried out to a desire of another knowledge of God and likewise to God than that knowledge of God that God had given to them in the Creation and another likeness of God than that Image of God that he had made them in And by this running out after a desire of a greater measure of the knowledge of God and likeness to God and not to obey God in what they knew to be his will to obey him in Here disobedience that got in the forbidden fruit that was eaten they eat that is they filled and satisfied themselves with a desire of knowledge as a man eats and satisfies himself with meat and did not yield obedience to God according to what they knew of God and so that knowledge of God and likeness to God that they were made in And as they were created so they for a time had obeyed God in that knowledge and in that likeness that they were created in until the time of their disobedience and then by their eating of the forbidden fruit their obedience died in them And so man died in the day he eat of the forbidden fruit he died in his obedience to God his obedience to God died in him he died as to that knowledge that he had of God as being in Gods Image the Image of God that he was made in was dead in him mans body did not die in the day he eat the forbidden fruit nor was mans body that Image of God that he made man in Before mans fall all that he did was done by his being drawn lead or going forth by the Spirit of Jesus in him he knew nothing but God and the doing Gods will and to that state man is again to be restored 1 Cor. 15. 45 47 49. The first Adam was made a living soul this was not the body of Adam that God made of the dust of the ground but it was that which after he had made that body then God breathed into that body the breath of life and man became a living soul which was this first Adam the last Adam was made a quickning spirit The first man is of the earth earthy the second man is the Lord from heaven As we have born the Image of the earthy we shall also have the Image of the heavenly Here the Apostle giveth the description of the two Adams and what they were made the first a living soul the second a quickning spirit And then what they were the first man is of the earth the second man is the Lord from heaven And then he describeth how he and the Saints were in likeness to the first Adam and shall be in likeness to the last Adam and to the first and second man And as we have born the Image of the earthy we shall also bear the Image of the heavenly Not that we do now bear the Image of the heavenly but we shall in time to come also bear the Image of the heavenly that is as certainly as we have born the Image of the earthy so certainly shall we also when the time shall come bear the Image of the heavenly that is as the Apostle and Saints did then experimentally know what it was to bear the Image of the earthy so by faith they did as certainly believe that they should also bear the Image of the heavenly And to that Image that the Apostle spake of that he and the Saints then were in of the first Adam that was made a living soul which was not mans body that was made of the Earth but that of man which was made in the Image and likeness of God I pray take notice man in the creation was not made God he was but made in the Image and likeness of God God is unchangeable and cannot fall God in man did not change it was that in man that was made like God that changed his Image was changeable which is well worth our taking notice of which if we did our experience would tell us the truth of it how Gods Image changes in us And man in the creation was not so made in the Image and likeness of God but that he might change as he did in eating of the forbidden fruit not by the Command of God but contrary to Gods Command To that state of the Saints in this life which was made in the Image of God and so made as it may be changeable by eating of the forbidden fruit doth what I have here already writ for the most part tend unto that as they have born the Image of the earthy and so was the woman that was deceived and in the transgression for the same Apostle saith 1 Tim. 2. 13 14. Adam was first formed then Eve And Adam was not deceived but the woman being deceived was in the transgression Adam here cannot be taken for the first man Adam made of the Earth for so he eat of the forbidden fruit as did the woman and was deceived and in the transgression with the woman and for his offence judgment came upon all men to condemnation Rom. 5. 12 verse to the 20 verse But Adam here must be Jesus who was made a quickning Spirit and is Lord from Heaven
and what the Lord said to Satan of Job and wha Satan said to the Lord concerning Job and the leave that the Lord gave Satan to try Jobs Integrity and how Satan tryed Job I have also read that the Lord said to Simon Simon behold Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not and when thou art converted strengthen thy brethren And of Peters Confidence not to deny Jesus and how he was prevailed with to deny Jesus and of his repenting And I have likewise read of Jesus being led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil and when the Tempter came to him what he said to Jesus what answers Jesus gave the Tempter and Devil and by my reading of them and remembring what I had read I could speak and discourse of them but I knew little of them in comparison of what I did then speak of them nor do I now know any thing of them but what by experience I hear of them spoken within me and have seen with the inward eye and have looked upon within me as a measure of them have been acted done or wrought within me and I do believe it to be unlawful for me now to speak or declare more of them than what by experience I have seen and heard of them within me and so much I may speak and declare and no more And if it be objected to me If thou mayst speak or declare no more than what by experience thou hast within thee heard and seen then how hast thou heard and seen within thee That Jesus is a light to all and a Saviour to some that have not heard of an outward Jesus born of the Virgin Mary and crucified at Jerusalem To that I answer I was once without the true knowledge of that Jesus born of the Virgin Mary and Crucified at Jerusalem although from my being a Child I was brought up to read the Scriptures that make mention of such a Jesus and I was taught by my Parents to say that I believed there was such a Jesus and yet I do now know that I did not then when I read of such a Jesus in the Scriptures and said I believed in such a Jesus I did not then know that there was such a Jesus I was onely learned to say so but I knew it not and what was I then better than those that never heard of the name of such a Jesus when I onely heard of the name but knew not what he was that is I knew not what he was as he was sent of God to save from sin And all that profess themselves Christians and know any thing of the work of God in their hearts will own that the knowing by reading or here-say of such a Jesus born of the Virgin Mary and so growing up to be a man and Crucified at Jerusalem and know no more of him that this knowledge of him does them no good as to their Salvation and what are they then the better for their hearing or reading of the Name of such a Jesus are they any thing better than those that never heard of that Name But that knowledge of Jesus that does them good to their Salvation is the knowing of him to be a Jesus that is a Saviour that saves from sin that knowing of him is that which is onely good and profitable to their Salvation and not the hearing or knowing of an outward name of Jesus I knowing and having experience of this within me to be true that it is not the hearing and knowing of the outward Name Jesus that does man any good to his Salvation but it is the knowing him to be Jesus a Saviour from sin that does man good to Salvation and thereby I know and have experienced that God may save some that have not heard of an outward Jesus born of the Virgin Mary and Crucified at Jerusalem and the way how he saves them is by saving them from their sins before I know a saving from sin I know nothing of Jesus but onely as I had heard or read of the Name Jesus but of the nature of Jesus as he is a Saviour sent of God I was as ignorant as those that never heard of the name Jesus I onely knew the Name as it was written in these letters JESVS but the nature of Jesus as he is a Saviour I knew not I did not know him as he is the great power of God to Salvation the onely begotten son of Gods Love the true Light which makes known to man the unchangeable being of Gods Love to the World MAN that whosoever believed in him the onely begotten Son of God the true Light that is whosoever so believed the true Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the World so that none are without this Light they that so believe in this true Light that tells them this is good and what they ought to do and this is evil which they ought not to do and yield obedience to God according to what this true Light the onely begotten Son of God in them makes known to them to be Gods will that they should do or that they should leave undone These that so yield an obedience to the light in them in doing the good that this Light makes known in them they ought to do and in leaving undone the evil that this Light makes known to them that they should not do these are they that Gods love is so to in his begotten Son as that they shall not perish but have everlasting life and this believing the true Light Jesus the onely begotten Son of God and yielding obedience thereunto is not wrought in them by the reading or hearing of a Name Jesus that a man had that was born of the Virgin Mary and Crucified at Jerusalem and that knowledge that we have by reading the Scriptures and hearing the name Jesus preached that is all the knowledge that we now can have more than those that never heard of that Name and of that Man But that which give us the true knowledge of that Name and what that Man was before that Body had a being upon the Earth and what it was when it had a being upon the Earth and what it is now it hath no being upon the Earth I say that which gives us the true knowledge of what that man Jesus was before he had a body upon the Earth and what he was in that body upon the Earth and what he is now that body is taken from the Earth That which gives us the true knowledge of what he was and now is it is the true Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the World and so he is a light and the true light in those that never heard of that Name and of that Man as he is the same true light in us that hath heard of that Name and of that Man And as he
as this I believe will come although through my outward age I may not live in the body to see it yet now I do see it by the eye of faith and if I depart this life before that day come I shall die in the belief of it That there shall be a time when Jesus shall be less known and less followed in the flesh than he is now and more known and followed in the Spirit than now he is And that there shall not be so much Lordship and power used over one another as now there is amongst those that are the disciples of Christ and know him and follow him after the flesh which had its being when the Twelve met one casting out Devils in Jesus Name and forbade him because he followed not them but there shall be a true following of Jesus and obeying his command in those that are great among them in that they will not do as the Kings of the Gentiles did exercise Lordship one over another but he that is great among them shall be as the younger and he that is chief as he that doth serve and that is to be like Jesus who was amongst his Disciples as he that serveth Luke 22. 25 26 27. When this day comes the high places will be taken down within and also without what high places were there either within or without for men to get up in when the Apostles and others first preached the Death and Resurrection of Jesus and the power of God went forth then wonderfully in reaching the witness of God in them that heard them although their words were not many And what high places were there either within or without for men to get up in when those called Quakers came first forth like poor silly men and here and there spake a few words as they met with people And how then went the power of God forth with them reaching the witness of God in many that went to see what manner of men they were as my self was one I believe there will come a time when the Disciples the followers of Jesus shall know what it was that Jesus did when he washed his Disciples feet which Peter when he did it did not know what he did and yet Peter saw him wash and wipe the outward feet of some before he came to him to wash his feet And Peter looking upon it but onely as an outward act and saw not then the spiritual meaning of it but looking upon it as an outward act he thought it was not a sitting thing for Jesus his Lord and Master to wash his feet but Jesus tells them that although he was their Lord and Master he had washed their feet and he did it to that very end to give them an Example that they should do to others as he had done to them and that it was a duty that they ought to wash one anothers feet John 13. When and where this duty is practised there all Lordly and Masterly power is cast down there is no exercising of authority over others there is a knowing what it is to take up the Cross to their own Wills and to follow the Example of Jesus Which washing of feet was another thing than the washing of the outward feet for although Peter then had so much outward familiar acquaintance with Jesus in the flesh yet he knew not the meaning of it although he had been sent forth by Jesus to preach and cast out Devils as others now may be but Peter should know afterwards the meaning of it And Peter did afterwards know the meaning of it when he knew the Death and Resurrection of Jesus which then he did not know nor believe the Death and Resurrection of Jesus when Jesus washed the outward feet of his Disciples But when Peter came to that knowledge that Paul speaks of 2 Cor. 5. 16. Henceforth know we no man after the flesh yea though we have known Christ after the flesh yet henceforth know we him no more When and where this knowledge is of knowing no man after the flesh not the knowing of Christ after the flesh there is the knowing what it is to wash one anothers feet which Peter did not know while he knew Christ after the flesh which knowledge cannot be meant the outward feet being washed for then Peter would have known what Jesus had done when he washed the Disciples outward feet but it was the washing of those feet which if Jesus did not do for them they had no part in him And then Peter who had before denied Jesus to wash his feet now rather than he would lose his part in him would have not onely his feet washed but his hands and his head but Jesus told him he that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet but is clear every whit that is the feet that is the duty of the Disciples the Followers of Jesus that they are to be as Instruments in Gods hand to wash one for another it is that or those feet that makes them clean every whit That part of the body that God had said the Serpent should bruise that part Jesus washt and left it as an Example and Command for his Disciples to follow read it in the Mystery who can The feet is that upon which the whole body is born up they are those upon which the body walks they are next the Earth these being washed and made clean the whole body is clean and so they represent or figure mans walking in obedience to God which as an Instrument in Gods hand the new Creature in us moves and walks upon the feet of obedience in us which if our obedience be not washed and made clean by Jesus we can have no part in Jesus that is if what we do in obedience to the outward Command of God be not the work of Jesus in us we have no part in Jesus And man being washed and made clean in that part of him that is in his walking in obedience to God by Jesus who is the life of the new Creature in man he need not have any more washed or made clean but is clean every whit Man in this his walking in obedience to God he treads upon the earthy part in him which is very ready to cleave to the feet of his walking in obedience to God and so to defile them the Serpent God hath said shall bruise the heel of the seed of the woman hurt or hinder Jesus in the pure operation or working of the Spirit of Jesus in man And so thereby the feet of mans walking in obedience to God that which the new Creature in man may be said as in a figure to walk and move upon in obedience to God as Jesus the Life moves in the new Creature and so as our obedience is from the movings and stirrings of the new Creature in us which moves and walks upon the earthy part in us and so as the earthy part in us cleaves to the feet of