have seen in my own Soul as the Tide doth ebbe and flow into the Ocean so doth the Revelation of Faith ascend and descend beholding the glorious throne of Eternity with unspeakable raptures not utterable by pen or tongue Reason I cannot understand how God being a person and yet a Fountain of endless Glory should fill heaven and earth in that a person is finite in one place and heaven and earth is large so that if Gods glory be in every place then there his person must be also Faith Dost thou not see in nature that one fountain doth supply many families how much more then can the Etetnal Fountain supply many Souls with that heavenly divine water and yet from his single person in heaven glorified and as that fountain from Ware is directed to supply the necessity of London and yet the head spring keeps its place so doth the fountain of Eternal glory retain it self in its being and yet fills heaven and earth with its streams of glory Reason Thou sayest God is onely in heaven and yet it is written the heaven of heavens cannot contain God he is of such a large infinite vastness and spiritual bulk or bigness that not onely heaven but earth also must be his habitation and therefore it is written that with a humble and contrite spirit God will dwell And again it is written Heaven is his throne and the earth his footstool And the earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof So that I believe God is not onely in heaven but earth also so that from these and many other places I judge thou limitest the unlimited God and so makest him that is infinite in heaven and earth to be finite onely in heaven and that in one single person of his own Faith Thou takest upon thee to prove thy reason by Scripture when Scripture were never written for thee neither doth it belong to thee as in its place thou shalt hear and therefore have patience and I shall interpret the meaning of those Scriptures First thou sayest the heaven of heavens cannot contain 1 Kings 8. 27. God and yet it is written whom the heavens must receive till the restitution of all things Now when Faith comcompares Acts 3. 2â— these two together it knows the truth of one from the other for when I consider Solomon endued with thy wisdom that he spake those words not experimentally but dubiously as minde the 27 verse and then peruse that chapter and thou shalt finde it in three several places recorded thus And hear thou in heaven thy dwelling-place how should heaven be Gods dwelling-place if the heaven of heavens cannot contain him So that in truth those words of the Apostles who were endued with the spirit of revelation is to be believed when Solomons cannot in that he spake not by revelation but from the intricate promise of God to his father David And in the same chapter he acknowledgeth Gods dwelling-place to be in heaven and not in the temple and where it is written with an humble and contrite heart God will dwell is not there intended God will dwell in my heart by his person but by faith as it is written that Christ Eph. 3 1â— may dwell in your hearts by faith c. as minde the words of the Prophet Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth Eternity whose name is Holy I dwell in the high and holy place by my person there I dwell and by my faith in an humble heart and where it is written Heaven is my throne and Psal 24. 1. the earth is my footstool do still confirm that God hath a body otherwise what should he do with a throne or a footstool But now to convince thee that it is not to be understood this earth but that glorious earth above the stars where God when he pleaseth doth stand as firm in as narrow a compass as I do upon this earth And that the earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof is not by me denied but that it is the Lords by creation and not by his personal habitation For God by his person is not in this world but by his Law or powerful word of creation therefore saith David Whom have I in heaven but thee So that it is no limitation but his infiniteness to be in heaven and not in this earth at all Reason Notwithstanding all this I cannot understand how God should be in the person or form of a man but there must be some other above him that must create God in that form Faith Though thou canst not understand yet to me it is revealed that God without beginning had a form and none but Divine Nature did create himself Creator and yet he knew not how he came to have his being Reason O admiration what shall I say of thee that God should not know how he came to be God by this thou makest God finite yea ignorant of things past and to come Faith Say what thou pleasest yet this I will tell thee that it is the nature of inâ—â—niteness not to know it self for that which knows things past present and to come is not infinite but finite in that there is an end of any further knowledge but the infiniteness is to know no beginning nor no ending for if he had known how he came in being then he would know his ending and so in process of time cease to be God Eternal Reason I have read in Revelation 1. that it is written I am Alpha Rev. 1. 8. and Omega the beginning and the ending whâ—ch is which was and which is to come the Almighty so that from hence I understand that God had a beginning and knew how he came to have his being Faith Thou hast read but dost not understand what thou readest as observe it is not there intended I am the beginning and ending of my self but this is the meaning I am the beginning and end of the Creation so that without me the world with all creatures therein had no beginning nor no ending without me as unto this I am Alpha and Omega and neither the beginning or ending of this world is hid from me for by my knowledge it came in being and so must have its ending but as unto infiniteness or eternity It is without beginning or ending of dayes and the not knowing either its beginning or ending is that which makes it eternal and yet there is nothing done but what flowes in the glorious body of God Reason Notwithstanding this I am not satisfied that God admits of a Form but a Spirit onely for it is written God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and John 4. Truth and then it is written Feel me a spirit hath not flesh and bone as ye see me have So that it is clear God is a Spirit without flesh and bone so an infinite Spirit onely Faith As God is a Spirit so man is a
hear thy thoughts whether this world was in being before the Angels because thou sayest the Angel was thrown into this world Faith Thou hast raised that which neither thou nor any of thy Seed can answer in that this and other that shall be revealed is onely to the Seed of Faith therefore for thy conviction and the satisfaction of the Seed of the Woman I against Angel and man declare and infallibly affirm that the substances of earth and water in this world and that glorious World above were from all Eternity in the Creators presence uncreated senseless dark dead matter like unto water and dust that had no kinde of life light or vertue in them in the least so that I say this world upon the account aforesaid was before the Angels creation Reason By the learning of this world we have understood that those substances of earth and water was not Eternal onely the Creator speaking the word so they came in being also it is written In the beginning God created the Gen. 1. Heaven and the Earth so that I understand there was no earth nor water till it was created Faith As I have said before so I say again this doth not belong to thy seed to know it for it is written Through Faith we understand the worlds were framed by the Word of God Heb. 11. 3. So that by Faith I say that earth and vvater vvas Eternal and the vvord frame or create is to make formlesâ— dead vvater into sensible living forms for thou maist read That earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep c. So that there vvas an earth and vvater though dead and dark so vvithout form Novv the vvord creating or framing vvas to give life and light to those substances of death and darkness and therefore it is vvritten The Spirit of God moved upon the waters and said Gen. 1. 2. let there be light and there was light So that against Angel or man I positively affirm that the earth and the deep vvater vvere essentially one Chaos of confused vvater distinct from the Creator and vvhereas it is said In the beginning God created Heaven and Earth is thus to be understood that of the matter of vvater and earth that vvas formless and void God by a vvord speaking did create a formable vvorld as a place of convenient residence for such mortals as thou and I to inhabit in Reason Though it be consented that the earth and vvater in the beginning vvas dead and dark yet I cannot see but they vvere created so not eternal for it is vvritten I create light and I create darkness so that it vvill follovv God Isaiah 45. 7. created them vvithout form and void Faith In ansvver to this it is vvritten That God is light and in him is no darkness at all yet it is vvritten Darkness was upon the deep So that I knovv from eternity the Divine 1 John 1. 5. Nature of the Creators Spirit vvas nothing but immortal fiery glory of Life and Light so vvithout Controversie the dead earth and dark deep vvater never proceeded all Life and Light out of his glorious mouth and vvhereas thou sayest God created darkness is not intented as thou supposest but the meaning is that he created those Souls that vvere naturally dark into a marvellous light as these Scriptures vvill plainly manifest The light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehendeth it not and again I will open their John 1. 5. eyes and turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God vvith many such places but not one Scripture that God created or gave any being or beginning unto dead dark senseless earth and water aforesaid Reason I cannot yet understand but that God created that confused Chaos of water and earth and so of nothing by his word speaking this world was made Faith Though thou be the Seed of Reason yet in this thou art unreasonable to think that ever those dark dead Elements of earth and water should have their Original from his glorious Spirit I say their natures being so contrary it is impossible they should proceed the one from the other For alas What is death or darkness is it not through the absence of life and light and is not life being overcome by death absolutely become death or darkness or utter silence for a moment and if light and darkness life and death meet together is there any peace between them until one hath swallowed up the other If this be so as it is so then without Controversie earth and water were uncreated substances eternally distinct from the God of Life Light and Glory and that the more it is written And darkness covered the face of the deep therefore I say it is but a dream and a lye to say that God created all things of nothing or that God created that confused Chaos of water and earth it is all one as if thou shouldst say there was no Creator at all but earth and water and such like dead stuff as they are Reason It is written God made a Firmament and divided the waters that were under the Firmament from the waters which were above the Firmament Now was this Firmament Eternal as the rest Faith I say the Firmament that is visible was Eternal though it was of that dead dark matter as the other was Now the word making is the same creating which is no other then as aforesaid to make that which was dead and dark to be lively light and therefore God made Sun Moon and Stars and set them in the Firmament to give light upon this earth so that the Sun is the life of the earth the Moon the life of the waters Reason What then is the Nature of the Water and the Earth above this visible Firmament the same with this water and earth in this world Faith No in nature they are not the same for that above the Firmament is immortal spiritual when as this is mortal natural And therefore the Angels and all the creatures therein being created of that matter are spiritual immortal bodies when as man and all creatures herein are natural mortal bodies and therefore it is written There are Heavenly Bodies and earthly bodies celestiaal and terrestial the one above durable this below perishing that above sutable for such a glorious personal Majesty as the Creator is CHAP. 6. Shewing of what matter Adams body was created and what was his Nature Soul or Spirit and by what means Adam came to lose his state he was created in Reason THen tell me of which of the two substances was the body of Adam created of that above or this below Faith There is no Dispute to the contrary but that Adam was created of this earth below in that he is numbred among this visible creation as in Genesis is related And that Adam was to be Lord and rule over them and the Scripture tells thee what
presumption for I know it is the curse of God and not of man that must bring a soul under condemnation Faith Whatever thy thoughts are of me I matter not but this thou shalt â—â—nde that I have power in the Revelation of my Commission to curse not onely thee but any of thy seed that shall do as thou hast done to call it a lye And in the Revelation of my faith I say That the Sentence of Blessing and Cursing belongs onely to the Prophets and Messengers of that Commission for I testifie unto thee That God the giver of Commissions never damned any but the Angelical seed in the Womb of Eve who is the Father of thee and all the damned as all along it is recorded That in the name of the Lord the Prophets and Apostles pronounced Plagues Woes and Judgements against all the despisers of their Commission in that they were Ambassadors and Stewards in Christs stead so we the Prophets and Messengers of God represent the Authority of our Commission as the Prophets and Apostles did in theirs Reason If thou please let me hear what thou intends by a Commission and why this is a Commission more then any other Dispensation now in being for I conceive were it not ambition in them that Quakers and all others may assume the Authority to bless and curse as now thou dost Faith Notwithstanding I have sufficiently unfolded our Commission in the Quakers Downfal yet that thou mayest be left excuseless I shall in another way infallibly lay down the truth thereof in these particulars 1. How many Commissions there was to be in this perishing world 2. The nature and tenor of a Commission 3. The powerful operation of a Commission 1. As unto the first it is writ There are three that bear record in heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three are one and there are three that bear witness 1 Joh. 5. 7 8. on earth the Spirit the Water and the Blood and these three agree in one Now as God did consist of three titles and not three persons as thou and thy seed vainly immagine that is to say Father Son and Holy Ghost So from each of these issued forth a Commission upon this earth for in the time that he bore the title of Father Moses and the Prophets was in Commission Now when that Father became Word Flesh so called Son or Christ then the Apostles were in Commission after that both Father and Son became Holy Ghost or one entire Spiritual Body now in Heaven glorified the next after came forth our Commission so that according to the titles above there was to be three Commissions in this world suitable to the three titles in Heaven 2. As unto the nature of a Commission it is not given in silence but upon record under hand and seal to the Messenger or Messengers therein included with an exact charge to observe the Kings pleasure according to the tenor and form thereof Now this Commission being given to thee doth not concern another for the names included for that Embassage doth this Commission belong Now for any other to counterfeit thy Commission thou hast power by vertue thereof to apprehend him for a Traytor against the King thy Master Even so it is with a Commission from God which is not given by private whisperings in the soul as all counterfeits imagine every motion whimsey or fancy in the minde more then ordinary is a call from God not knowing yet daily reading that all Commissions were given by laudable voyce of words to the hearing of the ear as to Moses Paul and now in this last to John Reeve Now then what are all these seven Dispensations but by Moses the Apostles and this Commission impeached for Traytors against Christ the Lord of Glory 3. And thirdly the power of a Commission is so great that it commands yea subjects the spirits of all that it hath to deal with A man in Commission represents the Authority of the great God of Heaven and Earth that whatever he bindes imprisons or condemns on earth is so in Heaven and whosoever he declares blessed or happy here are so in Heaven so that if thou wert not stone blinde thou wouldst then see that there is no Teacher publique nor private now living that hath a Commission but we and therefore it is we have power overall mens spirits yea the judge of all spiritual things of what sect or opinion soever Reason O what a boasting dost thou make that none but your Commission hath power over mens spirits and that onely to you belongs blessing and cursing when I conceive there is many able wise Teachers that are as true Commissioners as you and yet dare not assume that power to themselves as you do Faith O thou man of pretended light yet gross darkness bring any man now living except this Commission that dares say he had a Commission by voyce of words from God as we have thou shalt hear that I will curse them as I have cursed thee And where is any of your Teachers that hath a Commission of his own but Moses and the Apostles whom they have counterfeited and made merchandize for their own gain From the Lord of Glory I say not any of them no not the wisest or moderatest head-peice dare or can in peace of conscience say that thou art damned and another is saved Alas poor blinde leaders of the blinde they know not what will become of their own souls how then can they judge anothers but they will be condemned for so doing for were I not certain of the knowledge of the true God and the right Devil and all others that are ignorant thereof are culpable of judgement instead of being justified I should be condemned and yet what a flutter Caesars Ministers make in praying to a God that is no God and preaching delusions of their own inventions pretending thus and thus saith the Lord when Christ the onely God knows them not neither did he send them therefore from my Seedspring I say they are all Thieves and Robbers yea Traytors against the God of Heaven for do but bring any of them before me and thou mayest take notice I have power over their blinde zeal that if they do not for future desist in bewitching the people to believe lies thou shalt then hear the same sentence pass upon them as hath already passed upon thee Reason Which of them will believe the sentence of thy Commission unless thou couldst shew some present example either without or within as the Prophet Elias did to cause fire from Heaven and stop the rain that it rain not Now if thy curse be true how comes it that I do not finde it immediately within or without Faith Thou art worse then the inhabitants of Jerusalem aâ—d Judea Mat. 11. 11. that believed in John that did no miracle and yet was a Prophet yea I say more then a Prophet for as Christ said among them that
was surrendred into the Person of Christ alone so that after that all the gifts or influence of the Holy Ghost came from Christ as it is written when Christ was ascended to glory then he fills the Apostles full of the Holâ— Ghost which then appeared in the form of a Cloven Tongue and not in the form of a Dove So that it is clear though the Holy Ghost be one intire Divine invisible life in Christ yet take notice the gifts thereof are divers so that the gifts of the Holy Ghost hah various forms though the Holy â—host hath no form but man and that Christ alonâ— And therefore minde the gross darkness of all thy Seed in their Creeds as though the Holy â—host had a Person of its own so the Lord and giver of life when it is written in divers places That Christ is the way the truth and the life I am that bread of life he that believeth on me hath everlasting John 4. life and in his saying to the woman of Samaria But the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up to everlasting life So that the Holy Ghost must needs be in Christ in that Christ is the giver of life and yet such blinde reason as thee will have the Holy Ghost in a Person distinct from Christ the Lord and giver of life when to thy shame thou heareâ—t that Christ alone John 11. 25. is the Resurrection and the Life insomuch that he that believeth in Christ though he were dead yet shall he live So thus much in confutation to the authors and believers of of those Creeds Yea from the Revelation of my Faith I infallibly against Angels and all thy Seed of Reason conclude â—hat so many of them so living and so dying in the belief thereof shall with thee perish eternally Yea in the Vertue of our Commission I say there is no God that can or will deliver thee or them to all Eternity A DIVINE PROSPECT FOr the Elect of the Lord that after our departure shall come to the belief of this our last Commission though ye knew us not in our life time yet you have the Revelation of faith left upon record by which you will be supported in believing John Reeve and Lodowick Mugglton the last Commissioners that ever shall appear in Reasons Kingdom as also that I am the onely Bishop or Messenger in Revelation bearing witness against all Gain sayers to the truth of this Spiritual Commission now in being and so to remain till time be no more on this side of death then and at which day it shall be made manifest that we and onely we were the last Messengers of Jesus Christ who at the day of Resurrection shall ascend to glory in the publique view of our Enemies as also all other believers who credited our report not weighing their lives unto death Which when we and all that knew us are in silent dust then I say our Revelation will be in great esteem bâ— the next generation of faith succeeding And therefore that there may be no division among you from the Lord of Glory I reminde you of these enâ—uing Propositions they being a breviate of all the chief heads that my Revelation hath reduced from the Commission 1. You are to believe There was to be three Commissions before the end of this world thus recorded The Spirit Water and Blood and these are the three that beareth witness upon earth 1 John 5. 8. 2. It is to be believed That a Commission is given forth by laudible voyce of words to the hearing of the ear from the mouth of the Lord Jesus in the highest Heavens 3. It is to be believed That who ever pretends a Commission not being one of these are real whimsies notions yea lies and no truth 4. It is to be believed That though a Commission consist of few words without encrease yet their Revelations are various and encreaseth daily 5. It is to be observed That the two last Commissions are not to offend or defend in point of Externals but either active or passive to yield due obedience to King Governor or any other Magistrate whatsoever 6. It is to be believed That no Commission ought to be obedient to any formal Dispensation but in their time or place hath power to curse either Angel or man that in opposition thereof shall hold forth other Doctrine 7. It is to be believed That neither of the two former Commissions was to understand what God in his Form and Nature was in the Creation as this our Commission doth 8. It is to be believed That our Commission alone doth understand how this God and Father after intelligence given to Mary by the Angel descended from heaven as swift as thought into the womb of Mary and there dissolved his immortal body into seed and from thence quickned himself into a mortal body of flesh blood and bone so called a Son 9. It is to be believed That the Eternal Father now become a Son had the Supreme power within him that quickned his Godhead being perfectly dead in the grave to life again without the help of either Father God or Spirit without him whatsoever 10. It is to be believed That the Prophet Elias in his transmutation that nature of faith in him became a chariot of fire so struck out the gross Elements viz. Water Earth and Aire and in that fiery faith of his own ascended to glory to represent the Person of God while he took his journey in the flesh 11. Also it is to be believed That our Commission alone in the Revelation thereof hath the true knowledge of these things as also what the form and nature of the Angels are of what they were created and wherefore created and what was the cause of the Angelical fall above the rest and why and wherefore he was cast into this world in the presence of Adam and Eve 12. It is to be believed that never any but our Commission knew that it was that said Angel that in his whole form entred the womb of Eve and there dissolved into Seed and conceived into flesh blood and bone by which Eve was deceived so called a Beast Serpent Tree of Knowledge of good and evil that so none of that Seed might understand what it was and how it was Eve was deceived 13. It is to be understood That none but our Commission knows that this dissolution of the Angel in the womb of Eve became Cain the first Devil and Father of all the damned 14. It is to be believed That there never was is or shall be any other Devil but men and women and that for the most part he is the comeliest of all other of that form 15. It is to be believed That none but our Commission knows that the souls of both Faith and Reason are mortal ever since the fall of Adam and shall dye and rot in the grave till the day of Resurrection and that
this was forged by their own lying imagination do but read the third affirmation in p. 37. of the Quakers Downfal and there you shall read the nature of God in all men more or less c. 5. L. C. said The Devil was the author of this light in the world Answ Now the words that was then said were That Reason the Devil was the light within them but in the Quakers Downfal you shall finde all along that Christ as he was Creator of Heaven and earth by his word of Faith created this light now in being 8 L. C. said He had damned the Lord Mayor seven or eight years ago and a thousand within this eight years and that he had justâ—fied forty or fifty Ans Now ye of the seed of Faith may discern of what seed or spirit these men are of when it is not unknown to you it is not above two years and a half since I first heard of this Commission Now indeed Lodowick Mugleton said some of those words that the Lord Mayor with Recorder Steel and the whole Jury with thousands more had by them been damned 9. He pronounced damnation to George Fox junior and to John Harwood and said several times he would speak no more to them yet after did and said he would answer no question but after did Ans Had but any discerning soul been there he might have beheld the spirit of Cain in them so cruel so tempting that they pull'd us by the Coats and with diabolical speech said they would ensnare us so that I could not but tell them I did not think there had been such a violent spirit in them c. Now after their condemnation charging them with their blasphemy and witchcraft carriage this they esteemed an error or weakness in us 12. One of them said That a spirit hath flesh blood and bones contrary to Christs words Answ Now do but read their first particular and compare it with this last and then judge of what a dark formal hypocritical Rabsheca nature the chief heads of these Quakers are of insomuch that I say were it not that I know ye are all the seed of the Serpent so in darkness I might admire ye should say this or that is blasphemy when as we have told you we onely are the Judge of the Scripture and what we judge is blasphemy heresie or a lye is so and no other For this I infallibly say the first Commission was onely understood by the second Commission and the first and second Commissions are onely understood by our Commission so that the notional Churches have nothing to do with Scripture much less to say the two first Commissions were truth and the last Commission a lye From the Lord of Gloâ—y I say that as theirs were truth in their time and place so now is ours the onely commissionate truth now in being and therefore let me but tell you this once that your Pharisaical preaching and praying with your moderate civill walking aâ—e all but as diâ—t or the dunghil yea as a menstrous cloth not knowing the true God So that from the seed of Gods own body I say ye had better been generated a Snake or a Toad then a rational understanding man as in the day of an account when it is too late you will acknowledge but then in vain FINIS ERRATA PAge 106. line 25. for that faith can take up the words of faith read that faith can take up the words of reason as reason can 〈◊〉 up the words of faith
A PARADISICAL DIALOGUE BETWIXT FAITH and REASON DISPUTING The high mysterious Secrets of Eternity the like never extant in our Revelation As touching God in Eternity how he became time in flesh and how he dyed in the grave and ascended to his glory again ALSO What the Angels are in form and nature and how the Angel became a Devil and that Devil man and that this World was prepared for the Devil so this the Devils Kingdom and what the Soul is with the place of its glory and torment With a brief Narration what a Commission is and how many Commissions there are what the difference of their worships and how that the Law was given to the Devil with a brief discourse on the Catechism the Lords Prayer and the Creeds as also a Divine Prospect to the Elect of the Lord. Written by Law Claxton the onely true Bishop and faithful Messenger of Christ Jesus Creator of Heaven and earth London Printed for the Author and are to be sold by William Learner at the Blackmoor near Fleet-bridge 1660. INDEX Chap. 1. SHewing whether God be a Spirit without á body or that God is a body of flesh and bone glorified Chap. 2. Shewing whether the Father became not a Son which Son was Christ and by death became a Father to all Eternity now in heaven glorified Chap. 3. Shewing Christ is the onely God and Father Creator of Heaven and earth now it is to be revealed what God and Father that was and where he was that Christ so often called upon when he was upon earth Chap. 4. Shewing whether the Angels were the first that God created and of what he created them with their nature and form and what was the cause of the Angels fall above all the rest Chap. 5. Shewing whether this World was before the Angels or no and whether this World was made of something or nothing and how it came into form and being and whether it shall for ever thus remain Chap. 6. Shewing of what matter Adams body was created and what was his nature soul or spirit and by what means he came to lose that estate he was created in Chap. 7. Shewing who it was that tempted Eve and Adam whether it was the Angel aforesaid and if so why is he called a Serpent Beast or Tree c. and how and which way they were deceived and what effect it hath ever since produced Chap. 8. Shewing whether Cain was not the first Devil and who are his seed or children and what Devils those were so frequently spoken of in Scripture Chap. 9. Shewing what the soul is and what it is that dyes how that it is none but the soul which is the life of the body that can dye Chap. 10. Shewing what Heaven is and how many heavens there are what the nature and form thereof Chap. 11. Shewing what Hell is and where it is what the form and nature of its torment Chap. 12. Shewing what Authority a Commissioner hath in the vertue of his Commission what the effects and operations thereof Chap. 13. Shewing what the Law is at large and in short and whether any can keep the Law and when he is said to keep the Law and when not Chap. 14. Shewing whether that prayer doth not belong to all and whether by prayer we may come to the knowledge of God and whether it is our duty to make use of the Lords prayer Chap. 15. Shewing whether there be any truth in the faith of the Church of England expressed in the Creeds or Articles recorded Chap. 16. Shewing in eighteen Propositions the invincible mighty great Authority that is intrusted with a Divine Commissioner Also an eternal whip or scourge for the Quakers for belying the Holy Ghost A PARADISTICAL DIALOGUE BETWIXT Faith and Reason Disputing the high Mysterious Secrets of Eternity the like never yet extant in our Revelation CHAP. 1. Shewing whether God be a Spirit without a body or that God is a body of flesh and bone glorified Reason FRiend having such a convenient opportunity to have some conference with you my request is to know your judgement as touching the true God and that the more in this distracted age There are so many opinions concerning him That some holds him forth an Infinite Spirit c. others say Though God be a Spirit yet there are three Persons in the Godhead the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost and these three are one God the same in Substance equal in Power and Glory Now if thou please let me hear what thy judgement is of God Almighty Faith Notwithstanding this hodg-podg it matters not me what thou or all the wise men of the world hold For from the Spirit of Revelation I infallibly against men and Angels affirm That God the Creator of Heaven and earth is in the Person and Form of a man Reason How is it possible that God the Creator of all forms should admit of a form of his own Faith I say unless that Divine heavenly Faith or Nature had a Form or Person of his own he could not have created man after his own form image or likeness Reason Yea I grant God created man after his own image in righteousness and holiness but no otherwise Faith Ah pitiful Soul how thy riches choaks thee and thy wisdom blindes thee from believing in the true God that thou shouldst conceive that righteousness or holiness can be created without a form or didst thou ever read or hear of any holiness in any other creature but man onely so that thou canst not say this or that is holiness without a form and that the form of man above Reason What necessity or what ground can be shown that God who is the Creator of all forms should admit of a form of his own Faith It was the greatest ground of all for if God had not a form of his own it had been in vain to create either Angel or man in his form and that because he created them to behold his glorious person Reason Why cannot the glory of God be seen unless he admit of a Person and what matter of glory can be delighted onely in a single Person for I conceive him more glorious when he is a Spirit without a bosty for then he can fill Heaven and Earth wiâ—h his glory and every creature that he hath made then beholds iâ— in that they enjoy part of it Faith I say no glory can be seen without a Personal Substance nay it cannot bear the title of glory without a body for the glorious Spirit that ever was if it had not a body were nothing at all in that a Spirit cannot be seen so no delight in that which is not for what delight could man have with his wife if she had no person And whereas thou sayest God having a Person cannot fill Heaven and earth with his glory I say without his Person he could fill nothing at all As for instance what glory can there be in a
Spirit also and yet the Nature Soul or Spirit of either God Angel or Man cannot be worshipped without a body for there is no Spirit whether immortal or mortal celestial or terrestial but it hath its own body and that sutable to its own nature as if its Spirit be an immortal glorious Spirit so is his body immortal glorious also and if its Spirit be mortal earthly so is its body mortal earthly also and this I say all bodies whether of God Man or Beast are invisible and seeth that which is without yet it self cannot be seen by any outward sight For who seeth the Spirit of a man save he that hath it So that I say if God were a Spirit without body he could not be seen so not worshipped no more then a Kings Spirit without a body could be honouâ—ed and therefore God being a spiritual body must be worshipped in Spirit And where thou sayest Feel me for a Spirit hath no flesh and bone as ye see me have I say from those words of the Lord Jesus it doth not in the least conclude that a Spirit is not cloathed with flesh and bone for I affirm the Apostles as well as others were dark in many things till Christ was glorified they supposing that Spirits might be seen without bodies and that by the eye of nature therefore Christ walking uâ—on the Sea and appearing among them the Doors and Windows being shut was the main cause of their sudden fear supposing they had seen a Spirit so that for the future and clearer satisfaction Christ tells them a Spirit hath not flesh and bone as ye see me have though I be all Spirit yet feel me and behold my wounds and the print of my nails so that understand a Spirit without flesh and bone cannot be seen or felt unless a spiritual body so that against Angels and all thy Seed I affirm that God that Christ which said to the woman of Samaria God was a Spirit I say that self same Spirit was not in Heaven but in Christs body alone CHAP. 2. Shewing whether the Father became not a Son which which Son was Christ and by death became a Father to all Eternity now in Heaven glorified Reason THou hast told me all along that God hath a body in the form of a man and now thou sayest that the Spirit of God was in Christs body and not in the body of God the Father Where then was the body of God when his Spirit was in Christ Faith I shall affirm that as the Spirit of God was in Christ so the body of Christ was the body of God Creator of Heaven and Earth not two but one yea the very self-same body Reason Oh Friends this is a strange saying indeed that the body of God the Father should be the person of Christ If so how or which way came he down from Heaven to Earth it is so mysterious that it is beyond my reach or understanding Faith What is strange to thee is familiar with me for thou reads and understands not though it is frequently written in Scripture That Eternity was to become time yea immortality was to become mortal which is no less that the Father was to become a Son as it is written The seed of the Woman shall Gen. 3. bruise the head of the Serpent and to Esaiah it was revealed these saâ—ings For unto us a Child is born and unto us a Esay 9. 6. Son is given and his Name shall be called wonderful Counsellour the Mighty God the Everlasting Father the Prince of Peace and again it is written In the beginning was the Joh. 1. 1 2 Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God which Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst men So that I affirm the coming down of the immortal personal God was clouded in those sayings The holy Ghost stall come Luke 1. 35. upon thee and the Power of the Highest shall overshadow thee therefore also the holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God Reason I do not deny the truth of those sayings but do believe that Christ was the Son of God conceived by the holy Ghost but how or which way God was this Son I cannot tell neither do I believe that God did any more unto her then he did unto Adâ—m when he made him a living Soul the Scripture saith He breathed unto him and he became a living Soul So in the same manner I conceive God breathed into Mary and by that breath she conceived the Seed of God in her womb and so she not knowing of man called him the Son of God and not God for God was in Heaven when he was upon Earth Faith From my Seed-spring I say that the Childe that vvas conceived in the vvomb of Mary so called a Son Was the Mighty God the Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace yea that Babe in her vvomb vvas the very God For the Word was God and became flesh and who was the Rower of the Highest that overshadowed Mary but God Creator of Heaven and Earth take notice that the knovvledge of these sayings vvas not to be revealed to thy Seed for saith the Prophet Vnto us yea unto us Prâ—phets and the Messengers of the Lord a Son is given and a Child is born and therefore thou canst not tell hovv God the Creator should become a Son and Saviour but imagines God as he vvas a Spirit breathed into her vvomb as he breathed into Adam and so by that breath she conceived a man-child as touching this I tell thee there is great difference of a living and a dying Seed for by that breath Adam became life and by her overshadovving she vvas not made alive but had a conception in her living vvomb novv there can be no conception vvithout a Seed and that Seed must first dye before iâ— quicken to life again as it is vvritten Before the Wheat grain dye it abideth alone So that against Angels above and all their Seed belovv I affirm as from the Scriptures before is proved that God the Creator in the form of a man vvho is the onely Povver of the Highest did descend from his Throne and Kingdom as svvift as thought and his vvhole body pierced through her secrets in a Trance and in a momeâ—t dissolved into Seed and there died from an immortal Father and quickned there to a mortal Son of flesh blood and bone so called Christ Jesus the Saviour of the world Reason Oh admiration this is a report of astonishment that for my part I never never read or by the hearing of the ear ever heard till now that God in the form of a man should as thou sayest vvith that form descend from Heaven and for ought I knovv of as large proportion and bigness as thy self enter the vvomb of Mary and the greatest vvonder of all is that God vvith a body as big as thine should descend like lightning from Heaven and
that there is all manner of other creatures in Heaven besides Angels and Saints as there is here below in the same forms and shapes as they are here in this world If so How are they supported and by what means do they live Faith From my Seed-spring within me I affirm that in the third and highest Heavens the Kingdom of glory there is a perfect earth and that is the Lords foot-stool which earth is immortal glorious upon which there is all manner of Trees Herbs Plants and all manner of four-footed beasts all manner of Fowls also I say there is chrystall Sea in which are all manner of Fishes nay to be short there is nothing here but what is there though this is to be understood as these are mortal those are immortal fiery glorious of a bright shining nature sutable for such a Majesty to solace himself withall as also his Saints and Angels also there is Thrones varieties of Glory with such Heavenly glorious Trumpetting voices from the Divine mouth of Saints and Angels that the Glory of Eternity doth ring again with such a sweet Divine Harmony that the enjoyment thereof is unutterable and the more they daily encrease with new joyes of ravishing praises and delights after all their tedious sufferings and that without end Oh! the Eternity the Eternity is that which makes it incomparable delightful otherwise the Kingdom of Glory above would little transcend the glory here were it not Eternal and full of variety of Divine pleasures but in that it is so as I know and believe therefore I cannot but say as touching the third and highest Heavens Oh! the Glory the top of Glory yea ravishing glories without end Reason How dost thou know this and where by Scripture canst thou prove this that there is such variety of immortal creatures there as there are mortal creatures here Faith Although this by Scripture could not be proved yet by Faith it ought to be believed for it is written Faith is the Heb. 11. 1 2. substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen for through Faith we understand the worlds were framed by the Word of God so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear Now if thou couldst understand the truth herein contained then thou wouldst with me conclude that all things that are here seen with thy natural eye were brought forth after the same plat-form of things above which do not here appear so that from my Seed-spring I affirm there is not the variety of things here but there is the same above in the same likeness there in glory as here in shame so that there is all day and no night and that because the fiery glorious person of God being the light thereof in which Kingdom the glorified of the Lord may stand walk talk sit lye flye yea recreate themselveâ— in whatsoever their Divine Souls moves them to and that without the least motion of either pain sorrow or weariness in whatever it is intended to do and that because there is no end of new springing delights and that noâ— fancies of the eye but substantial realities that may be felt and embraced so that I esteem the hardship of this present world not once to be compared to that glory that shall be revealed in my soul and that Eternal without end so as it is written We look not at things which are seen here by the eye of Reason 2 Cor. 4. 17. but at things which cannot be seen but by the eye of Faith In that things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are Eternal therefore Our affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding weight of Eternal Glory CHAP. 11. Shewing what Hell is where it is with the Form and Nature of its torment Reason VVHat is that place called Hell and where is it that the unbelieving souls shall go to at the day of Resurrection Faith Having at large treated about this Particular in a Book of mine entituled Look about you for the Devil that you fear is in you as touching the place of torment as also what Hell is and where it is yet now I shall give thee a discovery of it upon a clearer and higher account that Hell is the body of man and the life spirit or soul therein is the Devil Reason How can Hell be in man When it is written after both Dives and Lazarus was dead and buried the which man being in Hell he lift up his eyes in his torment and seeth Luk. 16. 20. Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom and he cryed and said Father Abraham have mercy on me and send Lazarus that may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue for I am tormented in this flame so â—hat from hence I judge no man is in Hell till after death Faith In the first place thou must know this was a parabolical speech of the Lord of Glory in which the nature of two Seeds viz. Faith and Reason are discovered that is to say Faith representing the poor man Lazarus and Reason representing the person of the rich man Dives not that the rich man was in any Hell without him no more then thou art at this time yet this I know it is a true description of the state and condition of Reason being tormented in a burning flame with the sting of their own Conscience and that not onely as in relation to the various doubts and fears that attends themselves but on the contrary the assurance that believers enjoyes in this his present being for this I know that those who are true heirs of Abraham according to Faith are in his bosom that is in the same peace and perfect assurance as Abraham was for this I know that Abrahams Soul is rotted with his body in the grave and can neither see hear speak move or go no more the rich Devils of this world can till the day of Resurrection from my Seed-spring I declare that the Souls of Righteous or Wicked goes neither to Heaven nor Hell but both lyes uncapable of either joy or sorrow in silent dust as at large is handled in the ninth Chapter And whereas thou sayest there is none in hell till after death I say thou believes thou knows not what for there is not onely thou but many of thy Seed are now in Hell tormented that they cry unto the Seed of Abraham to know what shall become of them in this their flame crying out they are damned they are damned wishing Oh! that I had but one drop of that ever-living water to quench my flame that runs as a Well-spring in the Souls of the Seed of Faith by which they are freed from this unspeakable torment that notwithstanding all thy riches and wisdom thy seed or generation are pluâ—ged in Reason However thou would perswade me that there is no hell without man what then dost thou
say to that place where it is written Tophet is ordained of old yea for the king it is prepared Isaiah 30. 33. he hath made it deep and large the pile thereof is fire and much wood the breath of the Lord like a flame of brimstone doth kindle it So that I believe there is a hill either in the air or under the earth reserved for the souls of all the wicked at their death as it is written The wicked shall be turned into Psal 9. 17. hell and all the nations that forget God Faith Whatever thou hast in this conference thought of me yet I have not in the least gone about to perswade thee or any of thy seed to credit what I have revealed in that the benifit of this discourse will onely redound to the seed of faith and as for this scripture that thou hast quoted here is neither thou nor any of thy seed can tell what to make of it yet for thy conviction and confirmation of the blessed of the Lord I shall give thee the true interpretation thereof which is as followeth Tophet is ordained of old yea for the king it is prepared Now I know this king is reason which is the God of this world as indeed there hath been since king Saul but few Kings that were of the seed of Abraham according to faith but onely reason yet however the king here intended is the seed of reason whether moderate or immoderate it is Esau the elder brother as unto the Government of this world it is the onely king and the situation of it is deep and large in that there is no end of reasons imagination it is so deep in cogitation that it is compared to a bottomless pit and therefore the prophet crieth Hell hath enlarged her self and Isaiah opened her mouth without measure as all along it hath appeared by thee so deep and so large that faith can neither fathom thy God or thy devil thy heaven or thy hell they are so infinite and boundless that there is no true account of any thing thou sayest for a true believer to build his salvation upon Now whereas it is said the pile thereof is fire and much wood that is the evil motions and wicked actions which thy deep and large seed of reason hath imagined things to be that are not and things that are real in their being cannot be comprehended by thee Therefore the breath of the Lord like a stream of brimstone doth kindle it which breath is no other but the Law held forth by his Messengers which will kindle thy motions and actions in a never-dying fire for as the pile and the wood is fuel for the external fire so are the wicked actions of Reason fuel for the eternal fire of the Law that shall burn throughout thy Soul and body with an unquenchable flame so that this soul of thine is that Hell surrounded with the wicked imagination of Reason Reason What then is there no place of torment to be prepared for the wicked as there is a place of glory prepared for the Godly And if there be a place let me hear thy judgement where it is to be and the nature of it Faith This in a few words I shall give thee a true description thereof that the place where all the seed of Reason shall possess their eternal tormenting misery shall be on this earth for as it is in your Law where a man commits his fact there he must receive his penalty so where a man commits his sin there he must receive his torment then know that as on this earth thy Soul hath been polluted with sin so on this earth it shall receive its torment which when the Lord cometh to put an end to this thy kingdom the Sun Moon and Stars shall be put forth as the snuff of a Candle and then this light glorious world shall return to a confused darkness yea a darkness that may be felt and the waters for want of the Moon will become a standing stinking Pool and the earth for want of the Sun will be dust or dry sand where there the seed of Reason shall be raised spiritual bodies sutable to their souls where therein shall flame yea burn and that for ever yea for ever for ever without end Reason If these that thou hast here related be truth then I say there can no flesh scarcely be saved and for my part I am no wiser in what I have heard then what I was before neither do I know what to make of them nor hereafter shall much trouble my minde with them but do really believe that there is more blasphemous lies then real truths in them for all the moderate wise men of the world do judge God a Spirit and the Devil not man but a spirit and as for the Soul is believed to be immortal and so either to ascend to Heaven or descend to Hell and I verily believe there is not one of 20 thousand that will believe any thing contained in thy discourse so that it causeth admiration in me that all should be deceived but those that believeth in these â—hings which if I be deceived I must be for I can neither believe in thee nor thy Doctrine Faith What thou hast now said is not in the least strange to my Soul that thou shouldst declare thy self as â—ow tâ—ou hast done for I have told thee all along that thou nor thy seed was not to understand this Doctrine no more then the Jews were to understand Christ as it is written Why do ye not understand my speech because ye cannot hear my Word for John 8. 43 44. ye are of your Father the Devil and the lust of your Father ye will do c. Even so I say unto thee thou being according to birth the seed of Reason so of the natuâ—e of the Devil thou judgest the truth a lye and a lye the truth because it is not given to thy seed to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Glory therefore I say as John said We are 1 John 5. 19. of God and the whole world lyeth in wickedness so I infallibly know that almost the whole world will perish save those few that believed in the last spiritual Commission and because thou hast called this a blasphemous lye by Christ Jesus Creator of Heaven and earth whose Revelation of Faith the Seed of his own body thou hast judged false and called a blasphemous lye I say in the vertue of our Commission that was given by a audable voice of words as it was given to Moses and Paul in theirs I infallibly pronounce thy soul and body damned to all Eternity CHAP. 12. Shewing what Authority a Commissioner hath in the vertue of his Commission what the effects and operation thereof Reason WHat art thou more then I that thou dost thus assume Authority to thy self that onely belongs to God however thy curse I matter not onely I tremble to behold thy
it is finished bringeth forth death Novv Jam. 1. 15. vvhile thy lust is a tempting there comes a good motion and frustrates that temptation by vvhich means that thou hadst intended is not conceived so no sin indeed lust vvas burning in thy heart but in that it came not to perfection the lavv hath quenched the flame for vvhat hath the Lavv to do vvith a heart-adultery no no it is no thought but an act that breaks the Law and what comes not within the bounds of the Lavv be it adultery nay be it murther if it lie onely in the heart and be not acted there can no Lavv condemn thee Reason What is thy thoughts as touching the fourth Commandment as being changed from Saturday to Sunday and vvhat is the reason why this Command vvas changed above all the rest and vvhetheâ— this Sabbath called The first day of the week is not according to the judgement of the Assembly of Divines to continue to the end of the World vvithout any alteration thereof Faith It matters not me vvhat grounds or principles of Religion your Assembly of Divines holds forth as a Catechiâ—m to thy Seed for this by Faith I knovv and against men and Angels affirm That as the Commission of Moses ended in the Commission of the Apostles so the Jevvish Sabbath vvith the rites thereof ended in the Sabbath or first day of the vveek of the Apostles then knovv as the Commission of the Apostles ends in ours so vve have povver as the Apostles to erect you a Sabbath suitable to our Commission for knovv this that one Commission is not tied in point of Revelation to observe the former but each Commission according to its title and place hath power in it self to direct you what manner of Sabbath you are to keep therefore observe the Sabbath of Moses Commission was in this nature as followeth viz. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy six days shalt thou labour and do all thy work but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God in it thou shalt not do any work thou nor thy son nor thy daughter thy man servant nor thy maid servant nor thy cattel nor thy stranger that is within thy gate for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth the sea and all that in them is and rested the seventh day wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it Now this Sabbath thou wilt not own but the First day or Sabbath of the Apostles which hath no such form in it as the Sabbath of the Jews hath And why the Sabbath of the Jews was altered I tell thee in that Christ the onely God by his own power that day had quickned death into life as it is written In the end of the Sabbath as it began to dawn towards Mat. 28. 1 2. the first day of the week came Mary Magdalen and the other Mary to see the Sepulchre and behold there was an earthquake for the Angel of the Lord descended from Heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sate upon it So this being the first day of Christs Resurrection was a day of joy and gladness to the Apostles in that it brought peace and rest to their souls confirmed in their faith that he was Christ the Son of God Whereupon the Revelation of their faith led them forth to keep the first day of their Saviours Triumph over sin hell and death to be a day set apart to assemble together and contribute their benevolence for the refreshment of the poor members of that faith as it is written And upon the first day of the week when the Disciples Act. 20. 7. came together to break bread Paul preached unto them ready to depart on the morrow and continued his speech until midnight also Vpon the first day of the week let every one of you 1 Cor. 16. 2. lay by him in store as God hath prospered him that there be no gathering when I come Now this Command being a day set apart in point of Worship therefore as the Commission changed so the Worship changed and so of necessity it will follow that the day must be changed Therefore take notice as this Commission was not to hold to the end of the World no more ought that First day for as I said before every Commission hath power in it self in the vertue of its Revelation to change its Worship suitable to its Commission so a Commission hath power to change a day for that Worship Now our Commission being spiritual doth hold forth no manner or forms of Worship but the worshipping of God in Spirit and truth Therefore I say not onely the Jews Sabbath but also the Apostles First day in our Commission are void and of no effect as it is written He spake on a câ—rtain place of Heb. 4. 4. the seventh day on this wise and God did rest the seventh day from all his works So the blessed of the Lord believing Christ to be God the Father Creator of Heaven and earth are entered into the perfect liberty of faith which frees them from the lusts of the flesh and so entered into peace and rest by which not onely the Jews Sabbath nor the Apostles First day but every day is a Sabbath to the Elect of the Lord Now Mat. 12. 1 10. in that the Priests of this World do know that if the first should be as another day then they would lose their hearers and so in conclusion lose their tythes therefore as Christ and the Apostles by the Jews were accused for breaking their Sabbath so the Pharisaical Teachers of thy Seed will condemn us for repealing the First day of the Week But however in the Authority of our Commission I declare That every soul which knoweth Christ in his Form and Nature the Devil in his Form and Nature hath entered unto his eternal Sabbath of perfect rest without end Reason Let me but hear thy judgement as touching that saying of the Lawyer to Christ Master which is the great Commandment in the Law Now Christs answer was That thou shouldst Mat. 22. 36 37 38. love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy minde this is the first and great Commandment Faith And the second is like unto it Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self on these two Commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets Now what manner of love is this with which if we love the Lord and our Neighbour as our self we keep the whole Law but for my part I know not the man that can love his neighbour as himself and so none can truly love God My judgement is That all the ten Commandments are according to the sequel of these words reduced into two heads and these two are comprehended yea fulfilled in this word Love as it is written Owe no man any thing but to Rom. 13. 8 love one another
for he that loveth anâ—ther hath fulfilled the Law And true it is when rightly considered the efficacy of spiritual love it is of so pure and holy a nature that it cannot possibly do any impure or unholy thing when it is moved to manifest it self according to its Divine Property it naturally produceth all Heavenly excellency in the Elect of the Lord Love delights to Lord over none but be servant to all and gives every one preheminence before it self and therefore it truly Honors its Parents Love is so far from envy that instead of killing of any it lieth down at envies feet to be killed of him yea it stayeth envy by its patience and meekness and therefore saith Paul Our weapons are not carnal 2 Cor. 10. 3 4. but spiritual Not a sword of steel but a sword of love Oh! the Revelation of faith teacheth his to flay none but with love nay love is that Divine balsom that it cureth all wounds made by envies weapons Love is so sincere That it will not do that to another that would not another should do to it And therefore it will not commit adultery nor wrong any though it might have many an opportunity to defraud and cozen another it will rather want before it will steal In this love there is no equivocation it will not backbite or stain anothers reputation as it is written Love worketh no Rom. 13. 9. ill to its neighbour and therefore would rather die then bear false witness against either friend or enemy Also this love is generous full of pâ—ty and mercie That it cloathes the naked feeds the hungry visiteth the sick in prison and out of prison Nay this love is so pure that it enjoys it self no longer then it is doing good to others and therefore it will not covet his neighbours house his neighbours wife his mâ—n servant or maid servant his ox or his ass or any thing that is his neighbours so that I tell thee there is none of thy seed but for want of this love breaks the Laws and in some things therein confirms it by authority so that by this I love my neighbor as my self Now my neighbours are the Believers of our Commission that hath faith in our Revelation as it is written Brethren Gal. 5 13. ye have been called unto liberty onely use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh but by love serve one another for all the Law is fulfilled in one word even in this Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self For love is the fruit of the Spirit so that all believers are neighbours and therefore it is vvritten Let brotherly love continue love the brotherhood love as brethren This loving our neighbour as our self is life in death as John saith We know that we have passed from death unto life because 1 John 3. 14. we love our neighbours or our brethren Novv the great Commandment is To love God with all thy heart and with all thy soul Novv if thou canst not love thy neighbour that thou hast seen hovv then canst thou love God thou never savvest For what I have seen and heard I declare unto thee that vvithout knovvledge their can be no love and yet vvhat vain repetitions thy Seed makes to a God ye knovv not As I said before so I say again Though some of thy Seed keeps some of the Commandments nay if possible keep all yet in that thou art ignorant of the true God and so Worship another God thou art guilty of all CHAP. 15. Shewing whether Prayer doth not belong to all and that by Prayer we may come to the knowledge of God and whether it is our duty to make use of the Lords Prayer or no. Reason THou seemest to say in thy last That without the knowledge of God no man can love God and so all that he doth is sin What then shall not a man that is ignorant of God pray unto God for knowledge of him otherwise how shall a soul love God and to that end there are many Exhortations Mat. 6. 9 to prayer and that especially the Lords prayer which there we are taught the form and manner thereof as it is written Our Father which art in Heaven hallowed be thy name thy Kingdom come thy will be done in earth Luk. 11. 2. as it is in Heaven Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the Kingdom the Power and the Glory for ever Amen As I have said before concerning the Sabbath That every Commission in its time and place is to be considered That according to their Revelation so was their Worship but I know the Revelation of the Apostles led them forth to prayer and therefore in their Commission it was requisite and their duty so to do Also the form of these words was directed to the Disciples but none of thy Seed whatsoever for I should blaspheme to say That Christ uttered these sayings for the instruction of thy Seed when he saith your Father is the Devil as it is written Ye are of your Father the Devil Joh. 8. 44. and the lust of your Father ye will do so that this Prayer belongs to none but the Disciples After this manner therefore Gal. 4. 6. pray ye yea ye the beloved of the Lord and sons of the Father as it is written Because ye are sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son by which you cry Abba Father Now were this set form to be used in these days as I cannot finde that to them to whom it was spoken never made use of that form after yet I say if it were it onely belongs to sons who are believers of a Commission so that I say it belonged to none but us in that by the Revelation of our faith we know the Father that is in Heaven both in form and nature and none but we and therefore as we are sons and not servants we can with joy and peace of conscience say Our Father which art in Heaven whereas your Seed being but servants and no sons may take shame and confusion of face as for a man of quality to have another mans childe in the market-place ask him blessing and call him Father What would his friends think of him judge thou So your Seed that are bastards and not sons when you come in your publique Worships what a babling you make thinking to be Isa 1. 15. heard for your much speaking when he hears you not nor knows you not neither doth he in the least take notice of your fasts nor your tears they are all vain repetitions of no more account then the barking of a Dog or the wallowing of the Sow in the mire From the Lord I speak it they are not Reason What then must we not pray at all though we use not those form of words Yet I believe as
King without a person whose person being enthroned in his Crown and Dignity with all things suitable to his Majestie is that which fills his Court and Kingdom with renowned glory not that the Kings person is in every place but onely in his Court yet the hearts of his subjects over all his Dominions is filled with the report of his great power and glory so that the sound thereof as Solomons doth ring of the glory and greatness of his person so it is not the person of God but his powerful nature flowing in the hearts of his people that supports all things created by him neither is his person in any other place but his Kingdom of glory onely Reason If God admit of a form then God is not infinite but finite and so is not in every creature he hath made And if so how will this stand with those sayings In him we live move Acts 17. 28. and have our being Now from hence I conceive God is in every creature by his Spirit and hath no form of his own but lives in all forms that he hath made Faith Did I not know thee I should admire at thy ignorance but however I shall exactly answer thy Question that God was in the form of man before he became flesh in the same image and likness as now he is though then he was not flesh and bone as now he is yet as he is now so he was then a flame of bright burning glory that no Chrystal or Sun can stand before him yea his body is softer then down and swifter then thought and with that body so glorious can ascend or descend in his Kingdom of glory that he can be infinite as he pleaseth and yet when he vvill can consine his Godhead glorious Majestical Person to as narrovv a compass as any man vvhich if as thou saith God had no body but a Spirit and that Spirit in every creature then God vvere finite and limitted indeed that the Creator of Heaven and earth should be imprisoned in thy mortal corrupt sinful body nay not onely so but God vvas in Horses Hoggs Dogs Toads Snakes Spiders and all other creatures vvhich if it vvere as thou saith God vvere the vvorst of all creatures that he made Nay if it vvere so then frommy Seed-Spring I This is no Scripture of faith Acts 17. 28. But a Poets judgement in reason 2 Cor. 13. 5. say God is no Creator but a deformrd sick vveary sinful creature like thy self And as for those sayings In him we live move and have our being is thus to be understood that a true believer as Paul vvas that spake it doth by faith live move and have their being from the first vvord of faith that created Adam and not from any in-dvvelling of God in him as it is vvritten Christ in you the hope of glory and Know ye not that Christ is in you except ye be Reprobates is not thereby intended that God or Christ as he is a person is in you but as Paul saith Christ dwells in our hearts by faith It is faith vvhich is the nature of God of vvhich I am partaker of and by vvhich it evidenceth in my soul vvhere God is and vvhat God is both in form and nature Reason Thou saith God hath both form and nature if so his form and nature must be one and if one cannot be divided so he that hath one must have both therefore it vvill follovv vvhere the nature of God is there God must be himself for I conceive they cannot be separated in that it is vvritten That they all may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee John 17. 21. Gen. 28. 16. that they also may be one in us c. and again it is vvritten Jacob said Surely the Lord is in this place and I knew it not so that I conclude God is in all creatutes Faith Though the nature be in the form yet it is not the form and therefore it is vvritten That by these you might be pertakers 2 Pet. 1. 4. of the Divine Nature though not the form As instance the Sun shines upon the just and unjust yet the body is in the firmament vve feel the vertue or nature of the body of the Sun by its heat and light yet vve have not the Sun so in my Soul I have the nature of God but not the form or body of God and therefore it is vvritten I am John 15. the vine and ye are the branches that is I am the vine and body of faith and ye have the branch or nature of faith so by my nature ye abide stedfast in me and I in you As the branch cannot bear fruit of it self except it abide in the Vine no more can ye except ye abide in me by that nature flowing from me and therefore it is written Christ dwelleth verse 4. in my heart by faith by which Christ is in me the hope of glory and if I know not that Christ is thus in me I were a reprâ—bate not in me by his body but by his faiâ—h God or Christ is in me Reason What then is God in his person in heaven above the stars and his nature in thee here below then to me it is clear God and his nature is parted and so God looseth part of himself which to me is contrary to reason so not to be believed Faith However it is so to thee yet I know that God is in his glory and nature here below in mortals so really parted and yet no damage to God at all no more then a Fountain to cast out a Flood-gate of streams and yet retain its fulness in its self so the eternal Godhead fountain of all endless glory can stream yea hath streamed into all the seed of his own body such a Well-spring of eternal Assurance that all that are partakers thereof have perfect peace and belief in God the fountain of endless Glory and yet God all fulness in himself as David saith With thee is the Fountain of Life and Col. 2. 9. Christ said to the woman of Samaria Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst but the water that I shall give him shall be a Well of water springing up to everlasting life For in him dwelleth all the fulness of John 4. the Godhead bodily yea Christ is all in all So that I affirm it is no more loss to God to distribute his eternal Light into his creature then for the Sun to give light to the face of the earth and yet retain its essential light in its own body for as Jacob in his Vision saw a Ladder upon the earth and the top of it reached to heaven and behold the Angels of God ascending and descending and behold the Lord stood above it and said I am the Lord it is no more but what Stephen and Paul saw by reve 〈…〉 on of their Faith as several times I
pierce through her secrets as thou sayest in a moment and yet not be seen by any nor she stand amazed yea trembling in fear at so sudden appearance and dissolution of this svvift motional substance into her body for my part I cannot understand it neither vvill Scripture prove it so cannot believe it Faith Well may his dissolution into the vvomb cause admiration vvhen at his birth vvhich vvas no strange thing there should be such a multitude of Heavenly Host rejoicing vvith such Heavenly Harmonies that the Shepherd vvere amazed vvith fear yea a vvonder it vvas to them that heard of it far and near vvhich if there had not been a conception more than ordinary the birth of that conception had not caused such astonishment round about but novv God vvas become a Child yea Eternity become time and for a season to dvvell among his Creation and therefore if thou knevv that the body of God vâ—â—s of a bright glorious Chrystal soft thin transparent substance swifter than thought who at his Divine pleasure can transmute himself as high or as low and into as a straight a passage as can be thought on then thou wouldst cease reasoning and believe what I speak to thee that the body of God consisting of such Divine Spiritual and Heavenly matter as aforesaid could without the sight of any descend from Heaven to Mary And why or wherefore should she be amazed when she had tidings of what should be before Neither was his dissolution any prejudice at all to her but raptures of joy springing up in her Soul to her Eternal comfort Reason What then was all the God that created Heaven and Earth in the womb of Mary and was that the very God that was born in a Manger that was swadled suckled and dandled upon the knees and carried up and down the Countrey in the Armes of his Mother was this God the Father that created all things that now hath life in them that once could not go nor feed himself but be led and fed by its creature As unto this answer me plainly and really what is thy thought on this great mysterious Mystery Faith From the Spirit of Revelation I tell thee that was the very God that the Wise Men went to worship and that Herod did seek to kill was the very Godhead Spirit or Life of that Christ Jesus so that Pauls Revelation told him The fulness of the Godhead dwelt in Christs body and God Col. 2. 9. was in Christ reconciling the world with many such places and therefore the words that Christ spake was Spirit and Joh 8. 24. Life and again saith Christ Exept ye believe that I am he ye shall dye in your sins So that if the Eternal Godhead had not sprung up this Revelation he could not have uttered those sayings as his own Reason However thou hast quoted some certain places that confirm what thou sayest yet I cannot find but all along as I read God and Christ is two and not one so that there was a God in Heaven when Christ was upon earth and me thinks it is contrary to reason that God which created all Creatures should walk talk eat and drink with them and be affronted by them and as it were have his livelyhood by them that he created Faith Well Friend think of it what thou pleasest yet this I 'le assure thee that God and Christ is not two but one For what necessity was there for God to have a Son Surely if it were as thou sayest either God was in process of time to dye and so make his Son Heir or else he wanted a Companion to keep him Company if not so then the world was too great and so got a Son to assist him yet however I tell thee there never was but one God And surely then he that died for us must save us and if Christ be our Saviour then he must be our Creator and yet what striving here is for two Gods when in the beginning of Moses and the Prophets we read but of One as it is written Isaiah 4. 10 11. Before me there was no God formed neither shall there be after I even I am the Lord and besides me there is no Saviour and then confirms it saying Neither is there Salvation in â—8s 4. 12. any other for there is none other Name under Heaven given among men whereby we must saved and yet what a flutter thy seed makes about God and Christ so two Gods as though one God should Create and the other God should Save O for shame leave off these things and be silent in thy ignorance for thy seed is so various that some of you will have God a Spirit and Christ the Son a Person and others of you will have three persons and one God and the rest will have no Person at all but an infinite formless Spirit so that from my Revelation I tell thee and all thy seed with thee as by the Prophet Isaiah is proved there never was no God formed before Christ nor never shall be atfer him yet this I know there is three titles but one person which person ever was is and shall be Christ Jesus alone for Christ had the title of God the Father in the Law and the title of God the Son in the Gospel and now God the holy Ghost in this our last commission to which is onely revealed that Christ Jesus is the onely God Reason Then tell me what was that which died in Christ when he was crucified and said now it is finished and gave up the Ghost Faith That was he gave up his Soul to death which Soul was the Eternal Spirit or Godhead Father and therefore it is written He poured out his Soul to death and was offered Heb. 9 14. through the Eternal Spirit So died in mortality and was buried in the grave which Soul Spirit or Godhead in the twinkling of an eye quickned to immortality or spiritual form again Reason If the Creator of Heaven and Earth was that which died in Christ so that the God of all life being then become death How came he or by what means could he be quickned or raised to glory again Faith Yea it was the Soul Spirit that died and was perfectly dead that gave life to all and that life that died in a moment did quicken it self by its ever living Word of Faith spoken before his death that raised him to life saying Joh. 10. 18 I have power to lay down my life and I have power to take it again there being no let or doubt in Faith that could hinder it what it had purpose to do Reason Was all the Power that created Heaven and Earth dead and buried at the very same moment and no power left without Christ to quicken that which was dead within the body of Christ Jesus Faith No more than is in a grain of Wheat and yet that dies and in season quickens again so that there
was no God Spirit Power or Father vvithout the body of Christ to quicken that vvhich vvas vvithin the body of Christ but lay in its pure Seed onely Reason And did that pure Seed vvithout the help of any other povverful life vvithout quicken it self again Faith Yea vvithout the assistance of any without at all for let me tell thee there vvas no such povverful life vvithout the body of Christ as vvas dead vvithin the body of Christ therefore impossible that vvhich received life from Christ should quicken the life of Christ that created it no I say the povver of dying and living again lay in its ovvn nature only so that there vvas neither any infinite Spirit God or Father besides Christ that did quicken the Seed of Christ from death to life in the grave but his ever living Word of Faith spoken before his death I say that pure Heavenly Faith is death in life and life in death and this vvas that vvhich redeemed his Soul from the povver of the grave as it is vvritten O death I will be thy death O grave I will be thy destruction this Povver vvas dead and raised it self from Hos 13. 14 mortality vvith a spiritual body vvithout the help of any other to immortality again Reason Did he raise that same body that he vvas crucified in and buried vvith If not What became of that body and vvith vvhat body did he rise Faith I say Christ did rise vvith the very same body that he vvas Crucified in that same body vvas raised and no other Faith Hovv came it then from a moatal body to an immortal body seeing it was the same body which was capable to dye Hovv could that same body be made capable to live again a life Eternal Faith If the immortal body of God the Father had not died in the vvomb of Mary to a mortal Son of flesh blood and bone he had not been capable to live in this vvorld among his creatures and upon the Cross have died again as a mortal Son he had not been capable to live in that immortal glory from vvhence he came so that Christ as he vvas God tvvice passed through death viz from immortality to mortality and from mortality to immortality again Now to Ansvver hovv that body vvhich vvas made capable to dye vvas made capable to live in glory was thus That which was mortal viz. Water Earth and Air being dead I say that spark of Faith did kindle it self throughout the same form so raised the same body vvithout any of the gross Elements aforesaid so that novv it vvas a body without blood onely the same flesh and bone purified yea refined into a soft thin bright spiritual form swifter then thought so that now having raised it self to the same it was when it descended from Heaven to the womb of Mary now it was able to appear among his disciples as it did in the womb of a woman their windows and doors being shut yea able to ascend to his kingdom of glory from whence he came and so sate on the right hand of his Father or the right hand of the Majesty on high where now he will remain to all eternity CHAP. 3. Shewing Christ is the onely God and Father yea the Creator of heaven and earth now it is to be revealed what God and Father that was and where he was that Christ so often called upon when he was upon earth Reason FRom thy last Answer thou hast raised more objections which I would desire thou wouldest be free to answer and that is if thou canst reveal unto me what God or Father that was and where he was that forbid Joseph in a dream not to turn away his Wife saying That which was conceived in her womb was by the Holy Ghost and when Christ was born who it was that sent the angel with the whole host of heaven singing and praysing of God And when the wise men went to worship Christ that fore-warned them to go into their own countrey another way and told Joseph that he should take the childe with his mother and flee into Egypt and when Herod was dead commanded him to return back again And another time This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased these with many others I could relate which I desire thou wouldest answer seeing thou affirmest Christ was God the Father Faith Though I tell thee yet thou canst not believe me so that I may leave thee excuseless I am made free to speak unto thee and let thee know where it is written that Christ uttered a parable which was to this effect viz. There was a Mark 13. 34. certain man took his journy into a far countrey and set his house in order and gave authority to his servants and bid the Porter watch so that I affirm this parable was concerning his hard and sad journy he was then undertaking now the servants he intrusted with his divine Authority was Moses and Elias they were his porters that were to watch over Christ Jesus the Creator of heaven and earth for it is written before Christ became mortal flesh that there was Angels which Psalm â—1 11. should have charge concerning him which Angels were Moses and Elias and therefore it is written God buried Moses and took up Elias in a fiery chariot which none of the Prophets Exod. 20. 19 1 Kings 17. 2. 2 Kings cap. 1. was so suddenly transmuted into glory as they were and therfore it was for some great design more then ordinary otherwise there had been no necessity of raising them more then any other of the Prophets And then again thou mayest read there was none so much represented the Royal Prerogative Power of a God above as they did here below as at thy leisure read those Scriptures quoted in the Margent Reason Why could not God make use of some of the Angels then in glory to be as thou sayest his Steward or Deputy-father and to watch over his person the time he was upon earth they knowing him and was always obedient to him might as well officiate the place of trust and represented that authority as well as Moses and Elâ—as Faith Why or wherefore God was necessitated to take up Moses and Elias was as in these ensuing particulars will appear First because Elias was the Seed of Gods own nature and so are none of the Angels therefore not safe for God to trust a contrary Seed they being but pure reason when as the nature of Moses and Elias was Faith so that God knew it was impossible they should falsifie their trust committed to them Secondly if God had left the Angels to take care over him then had Christ in his infancy perished by the hands of Herod in that the Angels are not able to subsist one day without the revelation of the person of Christ therefore he being here below they would have brought all to confusion above as also Christ had not been preserved his
appointed time but the revelation of Moses and Elias being of the nature of God and a well-spring within their souls was that which did not onely support themselves but fed the Angels also and so kept them with that glorious Kingdom in due government and perfect obedience so that they had power as God himself in all things except creating and therefore it was they fore-warned Joseph and sent the Angel with a heavenly Host to the shepherds and commanded Joseph to flee and said This is my beloved Son Luke 2. 9 13. in whom I am well pleased I say they had power as God to do what you finde written Reason With what bodies did they represent the Place Throne and Dignity of God Faith With the very same body of flesh and bone without blood yet this I say in the transmutation of Elias all the mortal gross elements were struck out of his body viz. water earth and air and that spark of fiery life did divert the former elements into a flame of immortal glorious purity that the body which formerly was of a heavy gross substance was totally dissolved and refined into a glorious immortal spiritual body like God himself so that now they were no mortal creatures but immortal glorious Saints clearer then Chrystal brighter then the Sun and swifter then thought this was the glorious immortal creature that represented the Authority of the Eternal God Reason Did Christ when he was upon earth know that he had Moses and Elias to be his Steward or Deputy-father and if he did whether Christ knew that himself was God and Father Creator of heaven and earth and if so why did he so often and so seriously call upon a Father in heaven which if as thou sayest was but his creature and so God became a Son to his servant Faith I say after the immortal God and Father was become a mortal Son take notice as he lost his title so he lost his knowledge as touching he was Creator of heaven and earth for it was impossible for that which was become time to know it self as he did in eternity or while it was mortal to know what it was in immortality if he could have known it he would not have denied it neither have been by the feed of reason suffered to breath in this world so that I say Christ knew no other but that Elias was his God and father onely this as he grew in yeares so his Godhead revelation grew to the greatest height of knowledge that ever was to be in mortality so great that none was able to dispute with John 7 46 him and therefore it is written Never man speak like this man and his revelation was so high that he knew none was so near related to the father as Christ therefore he said Philip hast thou seen me and not seen the father knowest John 14. 9 10. thou not that the father is in me and I in him and that I and the father am one c. and yet from my seed-spring I say Christ knew not that he was the eternal father for if he had as aforsaid one time or another he would have told it his disciples saying All things the father hath made known to John 15. 15. me I have made known to you therefore who do men say that I am The answer was Some sayest thou art John the Baptist Elias Jeremias or one of the prophets but whom do ye say that I am Peter replies Thou art Christ the Son of the Matth. 16. 17. living God Now Christ owns this and no more saying Peter flesh and blood hath not revealed this to thee and upon this rock I will build my Church c. so after Christ was risen with a spiritual body yet he knew not that he was the father as mind his words to Mary Go tell my brethren and thy brethren John 20 17. that I ascend to your father and my father to your God and my God so that till he was glorified he knew no other but that he had a father so that though Christ was the very God yet he bore the title of a Son and though Elias was but a glorified saint yet for that time was he honored with the title of God and Father Reason If thou canst tell me and therein deal planly with me what necessity was there for God thus to lose himself both in honor and knowledge and for what or wherefore was the cause that he laid down his life or poured out his soul or Godhead-spirit to death and whether it be matter of salvation to search into these deep secrets and other things depending thereon Faith If that eternal divine ever-living Body of Faith could in his royal will and pleasure been moved to any other way there had been no necessity to leave his glorious kingdom by which he lost his glory and honor both in title and knowledge but there was no other way so of absolute necessity and therefore he declares it as his promise that the seed of the woman should bruise the head of the Serpent that as he had permitted the angels seed to deceive his own so he would by the same way undeceive it again to its former state before its fall and where it is written John withstood him at his baptism Christ said Suffer me this once to fulfil all righteousness Mat 3. 15. or fulfil all that the prophets have written of me as also it is written by Moses and most of the prophets of what befel him how he should be born of a woman and where he should be born and when led to death he was as a lamb dumb that opened not his mouth and that he should be as one despised forsaken and lost as unto title and knowledge and suffer the shameful death of the cross by thy seed that so he might keep thy seed under eternal death without which he could not have raised his own seed to eternal life the seed of the serpent to eternal misery and I say till he had thus suffered all power in earth was not his own as it was in heaven neither had he been Judge of the dead but living only so that from my seedspring I say it is the greatest concernment of a Souls salvation to know whether Jesus Christ be the onely God of no what he is both in form and nature â—â—y which the Devil is known in his form and nature without the knowledge of these things in one measure or another no soul in mortal flesh can be saved CHAP. 4. Shewing whether the Angels were the first that God created and of what he created them with their nature and form and what was the cause of the Angels fall above all the rest Reason WHat was the first creature God made And of what created he them and what was their nature and form Faith I affirm that the Angels were the first sensible living Beings formed by the Creator and that he
substance he was created of in those words The Lord God also made the man of the dust of the earth after his own likeness yea in the Image of God created he him so that I say he made Adam of this dust below and therefore it is the body of man is natural so of a heavy gross substance viz. flesh blood and bone Reason How or which way was man framed in the image of God and so compleatly made in the similitude of the Creator seeing mans body is of such gross mortal substance and Gods body thou sayest is of a bright fiery glorious chrystall immortal substance what likeness or image can mans be like unto God then tell me Faith In the creating of man the Lord God onely spake the word onely unto the dust of the earth and immediately the vertue thereof brought forth a living man of pure flesh blood and bone like unto God himself as near as could be so that I say it was not the visiblility of their persons that differed in the least but the glory of them onely for this by Faith I know God was an infinite spiritual body in all parts perfectly holy and Adam was a finite natural body of perfect innocency resembling that Divine form of God that created him Reason What then was the nature or spirit of Adam Angelical or was it Divine Faith I say though Adams body was made of the dust and appointed for generation so natural yet this from an unerring spirit I know that his Soul was not natural but supernatural or Divine and that because it was formed according to the invisible glory of the Eternal Spirit Reason What then was not Adams nature Reason so a reasonable creature if not then Adâ—m was unreasonable so not like unto God Faith From the Lord of Glory I say that if the nature of Adam had been rational in his creation then it could not have been Divine but of Angelical desiring nature of unsatisfaction in its self but that Divine Soul of Adam which was created after the likeness of the Eternal God did consist of several Heavenly properties in its measure answerable unto those Divine qualifications in the glorious Creator above all measure for the Soul of man is not without its several properties and yet they are all in a Heavenly Harmony in that the joy of Soul that Adam did possess arose in him from one Divine Heavenly voice called the Spirit of Faith which was all satisfaction in himself with his present condition not having the least thought of further happiness then what he enjoyed already thus as the Divine nature of the Eternal Spirit was variety of infinite satisfaction in it self So likewise the Soul of Adam being composed of the same qualifications was variety of satisfaction in it self also according to its measure Now if the nature of Adams Soul had been as thou sayest rational in his creation then through want of the Divine nature of Faith Adam would alwayes have been desiring after something that he wanted like unto the Elect Angels for this I know the nature of Adams Soul could not possible have any reason in it and that because the very nature of reason is not onely as aforesaid but it is too serious in its consideration whether things be good or right that are propounded to its understanding when on the contrary that nature or breath of Faith which singly was intirely given to Adam without the least consideration perfectly knowing the excellency of a thing as soon as ever it is presented unto it and therefore Adams nature must needs be Divine as Gods is and supernatural though cloathed with pure nature onely Reason If it be as thou sayest that Gods nature is all Divine Heavenly Faith without pure reason at all and Adam was onely partaker of that nature which thou sayest is so immortal pure that it is all Divine Heavenly satisfaction in its self How came it then that Adam having that nature of Divine satisfaction in his own Soul did fall from that happy and innocent condition wherein he was created Faith From the revelation of faith in my soul I declare that in the nature of God there is not the least motion of the purest reason at all that being onely the angels nature as aforesaid neither is it possible there should be in that thou hast heard in that chapter treating of the angels creation that reason in the purest sense is but a meer desire of the enjoyment of something that is above it so no real satisfaction in its self therefore if the nature of God were pure reason as Papists Episcopal Presbyter Independent Anabaptist Ranter Quaker and all Atheistical opinions of thy seed affirm then I say the Creator that gave satisfaction to another is not satisfied in its self and so in thy reason would follow there is something above God that must give satisfaction to God which from an unerring spirit is cursed blasphemy when it is written In him all fulness dwells and Col 2. 9. he it is that filleth all in all And again it is written There is Isaiâ—h 43. 10. none like him above him or before him or that shall be after him for a spiritual body of all divine heavenly faith and therefore it is written the wonderful transendent vertues of faith in so much that there is not the least let or doubt but whatever it believeth shall come to pass and to faith there is nothing unpossible that its revelation moves it to do when on the contrary reason is such antiphathy that it is a body of meer imaginary desires and no reality cloathed with fear let and doubts of faiths eternal power Now though the soul of Adam through the divine purity of its nature was immortal and uncapable of any rebellion against the glorious spirit of its Creator yet because its body was natural and had its beginning of this dust below his immortal soul having its being in a piece of clay was become subject through temptation to be transmuted from its present condition of his created innocency for this faith knows though the soul of Adam was of a divine nature yet because it was a created nature distinct to it self it was become a Son or Servant yea subject to its divine God and that through deep temptation he was subject to be transmuted into a sinful condition through which both soul and body might not onely be subject to natural death but also full of fear of eternal death or casting out of the spiritual presence of a divine Majesty to bring forth his heavenly disign of a more transcendent eternal glory that he had prepared through suffering to be enjoyed by his divine image at the last day with himself face to face Reason I conceive if Adam had such divine immortal heaven life breathed into him which thou calls his soul that was of the same property and nature of the divine God he might by that life have withstood all
temptation whatsoever though it was in a house of clay Faith Again and again against all thy seed I affirm that the soul of Adam was onely of the divine nature in its creation yet because it was one essence with a body that was taken out of dust it was both probable and capable to be thought into a condition of entering dust again and that for these ensuing particulars First to fullfil these Scriptures saying In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death And in the sweat of thy Gen. 3. 19. face thou shalt eat thy bread till thou return to the earth for out of it thou wast taken because thou art dust and to dust thou shalt return again Secondly if the body of Adam had been immortal in his creation as well as his soul he would not onely have been uncapable of natural generation but also he would have been uncapable of any transmutation whatsoever and where then had been the prerogative power of infinite wisdom and transcendent glory of the Creator ever been seen or known by angels or men And therefore it was Adam knew not whether he should stand or fall from his present state or no neither did he know what power he was indued withal in his created purity neither did he know any greater glory but what then at present he enjoyed so that if Adam had known that he had power in his own will to preserve himself in his present condition thou mayest be sure if he could have kept himself in that blessed state he would never have lost it for making use of all the power that was in him to have resisted a temptation unto rebellion in which he knew there was a threatning of a loss of that created glory he enjoyed as aforesaid CHAP. 7. Shewing who it was that tempted Adam and who it was that tempted Eve whether it was the Angel aforesaid and if so why he is called a Serpent a Tree c. and how and which way they were deceived and what effects it hath ever sinee produced Reason HOwever I cannot believe whatever thou hast related as touching these things yet tell me who it was and by what means Adam was deceived Faith I say though the Soul of Adam was Divine and free from all kinde of rationality so could not possibly have any desire in him after any carnal copulation with his Wife for I know that carnal pleasures were too low for a spiritual Soul whose nature was variety of Divine satisfaction in it self and therefore the woman Eve through the permission of God was first guilty of the transgression of lust and so tempted her innocent Husband to lye with her if possible to cover her folly And now from the Lord I say that the carnal I desire in her towards her Husband proceeded not from her Divine purity but from the rational nature of the unclean Serpent within her Reason Now I understand that thou makest Faith and Reason two contraries as fire and water so that from hence I understand that Seed thou callest Faith hath no desire but that all desire doth onely 〈◊〉 from Reason al he Faith Whether thou understand or â—o yet this I shall reveal to thee that God is now a body of flesh and bone glorified with all Divine spiritual Heavenly Faith and no Reason as aforesaid for â— so â— God himself woâ—ld be subject to transmutation as man and so full of unsatisfaction that all his transactions would be iâ—perfect and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Reason Seeing thou 〈◊〉 God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 iâ— him â—â— How comes it then that God saith Come now lets reason together saith the Lord c Now if there were no Reason in God Isaiah 1. How could he have reasoned with the Rulers of Israel Faith Oh! that thou could but see how thy ignorance blinds thee from the true understanding of any Scripture as to think that God in his person should Reason with them when thou reads it was none but the Prophet Isaiah who from the Revelation of Faith in his own Soul reasoned the cause with them as from the Lord for I tell thee and all blind Quakers Reason with thee that if God were not of a nature contrary to the nature of Angels and men there could have been nothing created nor preserved in their form and order as now they are and this I know that Faith can take up the words of Reason though not inherent in it as Reason to take the vvords of Faith though not experienced in it Reason What then was that Reason which deceived Eve or was it an Apple or a Serpent for the woman said the Serpent beguiled me and I did eat Now if thou canst tell me what it was that deceived Eve Faith Though I tell thee thou canst not believe yet thou mayest read That the great Dragon the old Serpent called the Devil and Satan which deceiveth the world he was cast out into the earth therefore it is written Wo unto the Inhabiters of Rev. 12. 12 13. the earth for the Devil is come down among you So that from my Seed-spring I say that Angelical Serpent which I have discoursed with thee in the 4th Chapter was that which deceived Eve Reason I cannot find in Scripture that was an Angel which deceived Eve though I confess the Scripture saith there was an Angel cast down but for what I know not for it is written Thou shalt not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and in another place it is said a Serpent beguiled her not in the least relating it was an Angel so that I believe it was one of the beasts of the field which the Lord God had made and the Devil was an invisible spirit vvhich entered into the body of the Serpent and spake those subtile expressions through his mouth and so caused the vvoman to eat of the fruit of a natural Tree vvhich the Lord God had forbidden and tempting her Husband to eat of the fruit vvith her it operated that venemous evil in them and all man-kinde Faith Oh! the gross darkness that lodgeth in the spirits of the learned and unlearned of thy seed not knovving the Scriptures are generally expressed in natural terms for the manifestation of spiritual things and yet the learned of thy seed vvould persvvade men exactly to understand them in the Letter because thou measurest the glorious things of Eternity by thy rational learning vvhen thou maist read that the seed of the Devil are sometimes called by the name of Devils Dragons Vipers Serpents fruitless Trees and such like so this Angelical reprobate by vvhom Eve vvas deceived vvas called the Dragon an old Serpent the Devil Satan the Deceiver or the Tree of knowledge of good and evil and such like names sutable to his cursed nature so in truth I say that Serpent that tempted Eve vvas that Angelical Dragon-Devil aforesaid vvhich God from the highest Heavens cast down to this lowest earth and it was his seeming Divine
almost the whole world believes the Soul was never generated but the breathings of the Spirit of God which are immortal and cannot dye Faith From the Revelation of Faith I say those conceited wise men which through the ambition of Tongues and Languages have studied beyond all sober sense or reason to make all the world senseless sots as to think when the Seed is conceived in the womb that then God must come and give it a Soul be it a Bastard or Free-born the child can have no Soul till God give it so that thou makest God not onely a partner but a perfecter of mans basâ— lust in that filthy act But however thy thoughts are unseal'd concerning God yet this I know that all Souls since the fall of Adam are but mortal natural and must dye in the body being generated to live together must dye together in that they are both guilty of sin cannot ascend but rot in the grave together as it is written The Soul of man shall be cut off from the Land of the Living and the Soul that sins shall dye and that the pure Soul of Christ was poured forth unto death and the Lord hath said that Adam and Eve were but dust and to dust they should return again also it is written That David is both dead and buried and his Sepulchre is with us this day for David is not ascended into the Heavens Acts 2. c. Now what should ascend if not Davids Soul For it is written Not this body but such a body as pleaseth God to give it So not the body but the Soul thou sayest must ascend then know this Soul was in the dust and not ascended for David is not ascended as much as if it had been said Davids Soul is not ascended nor no Soul without a body can ascend and there can be no ascension till the Soul hath past through death it can never ascend to Eternal life Reason If the Soul at the hour of death did not ascend to glory or descend to misery how comes it then that John writes I sâ—w under the Altar the Souls of them that were slain for the Rev. 6. 10. Word of God and for the Testimony which they held and they cryed with a loud voice saying How lâ—ng O Lord holy and true dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth So that surely John saw many Souls in Heaven cying unto the Lord to avenge their blood on their enemies otherwise he had not declared it Faith Thy ignorance hath been great as now it is in this as for thee to imagine that John saw Souls in Heaven without bodies and their spirits without face mouth and tongue should cry How long holy and true c. When a Soul without a face and tongue cannot be seen nor speak therefore I tell thee there is a greater Mystery in those words then thou art aware of for from my Seed spring I say it is no more then the blood of Abels which cryed unto the Lord from the ground and so doth all the blood of the Saints From the blood â—f Righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias and so to the end of our Commission Do cry O Lord holy and true why dost thou not avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth This John saw by Revelation as Steven and Paul in another case did see the Heavens opened And so John saw a wonder in Heaven a Woman cloathed Rev. 12. â— with the Sun and the Moon under her feet and the 12 Stars upon her head Now when John saw this great wonder he was not in Heaven neither was this wonder done in Heaven but upon the earth so it was the blood of the Righteous Souls that were murthered in their bodies that John saw not in glory but upon this earth Now whereas thou art almost confident that at the hour of death the Souls go out of the body if so deal plainly with thy self and tell me whâ—â—â—t is like for surely the Soul must have some form â—â— sâ—ape and so cannot get out but it would be seen by some thâ—â— stâ—â—ds by for if a â—oul were of that form and fashion as White in his Chamber at Whithall shewed me the picture of a soul â—â— a Book a dark soul and a light soul in â—â—rm like a â—copeâ—ilâ— I say if the soul were as such wisâ— Head-pieces reports how comes it that it cannot be seen to gâ— out of the diseased For my part I have been at the death of some and yet could not discern any thing come frâ—m them but groans and flegm so that if thou with all thâ— seed were noâ— stone blinde thou wouldst clearly see the soul dyeth within the body for want of evaquation with the body Reason If iâ— be as thou sayest that all souls are dead in the dust and so become dust How or which way shall these souls be found out or raised at the last day Faith From the Lord of glory I speak it there is not any of thy seed that doth in the least understand how to answer this Argument therefore that Faith may be known to be Lord over thee and thy seed I declare that Christ Jesus being a quicâ—ning Spirit not onely as in relation to himself but all man kind as it is written The first man Adam was made a living Soul and the second man Adam was made a quickning Spirit I say his Soul being perfectly dead and buried in the grave yet in death he quickned himself to life without the help of any as in the second Chapter is clear so as it is written Your lâ—fe is hid in Christ with God so that when Christ who is our life shall appear then shall we also appear Col. 3. 3. 4. with him in glory therefore as he was able to qâ—icken his own Soul so at the general account he is far more able by the word of his mouth to quicken the Seed of Faith that now are dust to eternal glory also to quicken the seed of Reason to eternal misery yea and that from the first soul called Adam to the last soul dying he can and will in the twinkling of an eye raise all the Seed of Faith that hath layn so long in the dust to meet him in the Air with bodies sutable to their natures yea the very appearance of Christ who is all life will quicken that which is dead in the grave to hear his voice and immediately to come forth and meet him in the Air as it is written The hour is coming John 5. 28 in which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice Reason That I understand is the raising of another body and not the soul for it is written it is sown a natural body and is raised a spiritual body so that I conceive it is not the soul but that body raised another that will be the work of the Lord at the day of Judgement
Faith Oh! senseless sot that I should thus spend my time with thee when thou neither believes Scripture nor can rightly interpret any Scripture when thou mayest read in the 36th and 37th verses these words Thou fool that which 1 Cor. 15. 36. thou sowest is not quickned except it dye and that which thou sowest not that body that shall be but bare grain it may chance of wheat or of some other grain Now consider is not the life of the wheat grain in the body of the wheat corn when it is sowed and doth it not in its season dissolve its body with its life into dust and there dye yea perfectly dead till such time as refreshing showres and the heat of the Sun beams which is the life of the earth quicken that life which then lay dead to a new life by which vertue it cloaths it self noâ— with that old body but a new body and so abides not alone but brings forth a new encrease of sixty seventy or an hundred fold Now let me speak freely to thee as it is with the grain of wheat so it is with the soul of man for that is buried with the body in the earth were both soul and body is corrupted to dust and there lyeth as the wheat grain perfectly dead till such time that quickning Spirit the Lord of all life do appear and quicken that mortal soul which then was become dust to an immortal soul which after shall become an immortal life by which quickning it is clothed with a spiritual immortal body all glorious like God himself so now having a body sutable to its nature a spiritual powerful swift body like unto its Soul is now able to ascend to meet his Redeemer in the Air and so return with him into glory so that from the Lord of all power I say if the soul were immortal in a mortal body and could not dye but ascend to glory then I say there would be no need of Resurrection in that this body shall not rise though the Grave and the Sea at that day shall give up their dead is not intended their dead bodies but their dead souls that hath been many years drowned or buried that shall arise whether out of water or earth their souls shall arise every seed his own body but this I say if the soul were in glory already without a body as it cannot be then it were in vain to raise a body out of the earth to meet a spiritual Soul in Heaven in that no body can be raised without its soul nor a soul be any thing without its body so that if thou wert not stone blind thou wouldst say with me that to believe thy soul should go to Heaven without its body neither God nor Angels could see it or take notice of it nor the soul it self know what or where it is and so in conclusion never be capable of glory at all CHAP. 10. Shewing what Heaven is and how many there are with the nature and form thereof Reason WHat Heaven is that or where is it that these believing souls shall go to at the last day of Resurrection Faith First I shall tell thee from an unerring Spirit how many Heavens there are and which of those three this Heaven is that all believing souls shall inherit eternal glory in the personal enjoyment of their God face to face I find but a threefold Heaven spoken of in Seripture whatever thy seed vainly imagine to the contrary The first that I shall infallibly speak of is the visible Firmamental I. Heaven which is adorned with maty majestical lights above us and a fixed earth beneath us beautiful in its season with variety of delights which is natures onely desired Heaven through the secret Decree of the most wise God to manifest the variety of his most infinite wisdom unto Elect men and Angels in creating such natural glory to perish with the Angelical merciless Rulers thereof after they have enjoyed their momentary glory as it is written Thou Lord in the beginning hast established the earth the Heavens are the works of thy hands they shall perish but thou dost remain they shall wax old as doth a garment this is that visible Heaven with the glory thereof Reason Which is then the next Heaven by Scripture proved that so if possible I may come to know that Heaven which is Eternal and shall never perish Faith As I do not set forth these Heavens in order so I say thou canst noâ— nor none of thy sed have any Faith in what I have or shall say but however the next Heaven I shall treat upon is that within the bodies of men or the first man Adam as it is written The Kingdom of Heaven is within you and Christ in you the hope of glory and know you not that Christ is in you except yâ—u be Reprobates Now this Heaven is that spiritual creation in natural bodies and within this perishing Globe that through its union with changable nature it might enter into mortality that so after a moments tasting of silent death as God himself did it might quicken again through death it self spiritual bodies full of Divine glories by which all the Elect as swift as thought ascend to meet their Lord in the Air and with his Divine person of bright burning glory enter into that prepared Throne of Eternal pleasures by which such a soul hath perfect peace with assurance here that it shall enjoy what it in this world believed Reason How is it possible any creature should give a description of the Kingdom of glory Which I perceive thou wilt say is the third and highest Heaven seeing it is a place that can by mortals cannot be seen therefore not known I conceive no mortal flesh is able to speak of it according to its form and nature Faith From the Lord of glory I say what is impossible to Reason is possible to Faith for by the Revelation of this Faith I can see and do know that the third Heaven is invisible yet visible ravishing glories which are Eternal this is that vast Kingdom where the persons of the mighty Angels and glorified bodies of Moses and Elias do now inhabit beholding the Face of that most Excellent Majesty whose Divine nature is Crowns of unuttâ—rable excellencies this is that habitation third Heaven Throne or Kingdom that the Pen of man is not able to write or his Tongue to speak However what by Revelation I have seen I shall here declare that the form of it is non-Globical insomuch that there is no end of the height of it nor circumference thereof insomuch that God his Saints and Angels may ascend ten thousand times ten thousand and yet no Globe to hinder so excellent glorious swift personal Majesty as God is and as for the nature of this Heaven it is so infinite that there is all manner of creatures for the contemplation of God his elected Saints and Angels Reason What dost thou believe
Divine Heavenly Substance in the proportion and linaments of a man whose person was more bright and glorious then the Sun softer then Doun and swifter then thought So that I say this was the substance the Fathers person then consisted of and against men and Angels I affirm that there was no person before the world but the Father onely neither could he beget a Son until he dissolved his Divine substance into seed in the womb of Mary by which dissolution the Father begot or conceived himself into a Son of flesh blood and bone For this by faith I know that the person of the Father was capable of transmutation into the form of flesh though now he is not having taken upon him the form of flesh in fulfilling that promise saying The seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the Serpent Gen. 3. 15 which was no other but the Eternal Father was to be born of a woman with flesh blood and bones so that it was not the Father begot a Son but the Father became a Son as the Prophet Eliah by Revelation clearly unfolds saying unto us A childe is born unto us a Son is given and the Government Isa 9 6. shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called Wonderful Counsellour the mighty God the everlasting Father the Prince of peace and then it is written that that Word or Eternal Spirit that formed it self as aforesaid that Word became flesh and dwelt among us and saith Paul The Godhead dwelt in Christ bodily so that it is clear as in the Ioh. 1. 14. second Chapter is infallibly proved that the Father begot no Son before the Worlds but the Father in time became a Son himself and that not in two persons but one person alone But then what wilt thou do with these Scriptures where it is written Reason Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee also it is said We beheld his glory the glory as of the Psal 2. 7. onely begotten of the Father and again it it said Ioh 1. 14. Unto which of the Angels said he at any time Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee and again Heb. 1. 5. No man hath seen God at any time the onely begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father He hath declared him also it is written I will be to him a Father Joh. 1 17. and he shall be ti me a Son Now if Christ was not begotten of his Father why or wherefore should the Apostles Revelation declare that Christ had a Father and was begotten by him Faith As I have often told thee so I say again What hast thou to do with Scripture our Commission being the onely Interpreter thereof thou not believing the report therein was damned Yet for the further satisfaction of the hearers that shall believe this I shall declare that the Apostles in their Commission was not to know Christ any further or otherwise then onely a Son begotten by his Father and that for them in their time was sufficient as the Son himself expresseth John 15. 16. All things that the Father hath made known to me I have made known unto you also Paul declares He that confesseth with his tongue and believeth with his heart that Christ is the Son of God shall be saved Though now in our Commission it is not sufficient in that our Revelation leads us infallibly to believe Christ was and is the Everlasting Father Creator of Heaven and earth as by Scripture is confirmed All things were made by him and without him was not any thing made that was made So that Christ as he was the Father was the Creator of all things whether in Heaven or earth as is manifest in that intricate Revelation of Paul which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead c. Who can Eph. 1. 20. tell but our Commission who raised Christ from the dead was there any other God or Father but what was within him that raised him from the dead as he saith I have power John 10. 18. to lay down my life and I have power to take it again as in the third Chapter is shewed at large And who should set him at the right hand of the Father but the Godhead power within him that enthroned him far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named not onely in this world but that which is to come insomuch that Christ by his death hath conquered himself to be head over all things And what is that which so highly promoted him above all even his Spiritual body the fulness in which was that which filled all in all So that I say That Father which Christ so often called upon vvhen he vvas on earth I say if it had not been his creature Elias commissionated in Glory then Christ could have made nothing nor by his own power have quickned himself to life again Nay I say if Christ had a real Father that had begotten him then Christ could not have had the preheminence in power name and been the chief head in that the Father is above the Son But hovvever let blinde Reason think vvhat it vvill from an infallible Spirit I say that Elias vvas his Deputy-Father and so at Christs ascension vvas to give up his Authority and Commission to Christ the Eternal Father from vvhence he received it 2. Secondly Thou believest God a reasonable soul perfect God and perfect man c. In ansvver to vvhich from the Revelation of Faith I tell Answ thee is the greatest blasphemy that by man can be imagined as to consider the nature of the tvvo Seeds viz. Faith and Reason First as in relation to their Satisfaction Secondly their povver First What Divine satisfaction could there be in God if there were the least spark of Reason in him I knovving in Reason there is no real satisfaction vvhatever it being a seed though as pure as in the Angels yet it is altogether unsatisfactory in it self as hath been proved in the Reprobate Angel he being left to his pure Reason alone vvas brought to aspiring confusion if possible to unthrone God and all creatures made by him as at large in the fourth Chapter is proved vvhich if the nature of God vvere but pure Reason then might the Reprobate Angel have kept his standing and the rest of the Angels have had full satisfaction in themselves vvithout any supply from God at all vvhich in the fourth Chapter thou hast heard to the contrary And therefore if the Nature of God vvere pure Reason he could have no satisfaction in himself but from another and so in conclusion there must be some above God to satisfie God Therefore from that God vvho is a body of living Faith I say Cursed is that soul vvho believes God to have the least motion of Reason in him nay further in the povver of our Commission I say
Holy Ghost a person though they are recorded in your Creed three persons and one God Yet by faith I say as I said before there never was is or shall be but one Personal God even Christ Jesus alone blessed for ever as onely those who believe my Revelation can with me understand Isa 43. 10 11. Luke 1 35 that the Holy Ghost was the Eternal Spirit or invisible Soul of Christ as it is written The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee yea that was the Holy Ghost or invisible Soul of Christ which dissolved into seed there dyed in the womb of Mary and quickned it self into a son of flesh blood and bone yea the Holy Ghost remained with him and in him all the time he was upon earth yea that was the Holy Ghost or Eternal Spirit that dyed in the grave for they signifie both one and the self same thing as it is written The Spirit of God descended upon him like a Dove so the Holy Ghost descended upon him like a Dove So that take it which way thou pleaseth the Holy Ghost or Eternal Spirit which is the Godhead Father vvas in no Person of its ovvn but the Person of Christ onely Reason From those Scriptures thou hast quoted I understand that the Holy Ghost vvas not in the person of Christ but in Heaven a Person of its own as it is clearly recorded and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a Dove upon him Luk. 3. 21. and a voyce came from Heaven which said Thou art my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased And so in the rest of the Evangelists it is written Thâ—t the Heavens were opened unto him and he saw the Spirit of God descending lâ—ke a Dove and lighting upon him So that I do not deny but that the Spirit and the Holy Ghost is both one yet I cannot believe but that the Holy Ghost is in a form or shape of its own and that in Heaven when Christ was upon earth as it written The Holy Ghost dâ—scended from Heaven upon him And bâ—sides it is clear that Christ had a Father then in Heaven that sent the Holy Ghost and said Thou art my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Faith In answer to this I shall unfold this deep secret which none of thy Seed can ever understand yet that it may be recorded for the blessed seed of faith that shall hereafter believe in our Commission I infallibly declare That there is a Holy Ghost as also a gift of the Holy Ghost Reason But before thou speakest of this I desire if thou canst remove this great stumbling block What Father this was that said Thou art my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased and if Elias as thou hast at large treaaed with me in the third Chapter then tell me by what Authority could Elias call Christ his beloved Son and why did Châ—ist make use of his Creature to call his Creator Son surely it cannot be Elias that should assume such a prerogative to call Christ Son but it must be God the Creator of all things that did call Christ his beloved Son otherwise Christ would never have so seriously and confidently hâ—ve called Elias his Father Faith As I have formerly said so I say again That herein consists the infiniteness of Eternity thaâ— he could become time yea so far deny and abase himself as to be protected by his Creature for as it is written In all things he became like unto us sin onely excepted not like unto the seed of reason but the seed of faith yea he was like unto his Prophets and Messengers in point of Commissioâ— for though Christ as he was God the Father gave all Commissions yet now from Elias he took a Commission himself and for that end and purpose before he took his journey in the flâ—sh as in the third Chapter I have declared wherefore he took up Elias that he might present the very place and authority of God as when God was there himself Elias being the Seed of his own body he could trust him when he could trust none of the Angels and therefore he took upon him the seed of Abraham and not the Heb 2. 16. nature of the Angels Now having taken him up into glory in that his time was nigh that he must fulfil his promise to the seed of Adam I say he commissionates Elias with Authority Power and Majestie like himself creating excepted to take care of Christ the onely God in this his difficult journey by which Authority Elias had full power to protect Christ in his infancy and confirm his Revelation both in Doctrine and Miracle and to call him his Son as Christ was to call Elias his God and Father as at his death he acknowledgeth Mark 16 34 35. Elias Elias my God my God why hast thou forsaken me Which some of them that stood by understanding his language said behold he calleth Elias which none but the true believers of our Commission can understand and therefore must perish for want of the true knowledge of this So that from the Revelation of faith I say herein was the infiniâ—e wisdom of the Godhead made manifest in Christs Humility that although he was the Creator yet he took upon him the form of a servant and in the place of his glory authorized his Creature Elias as a Father Though the Scripture intricately prove this yet who but the Elect of the Lord can believe this that Elias had power to send down gifts of the Holy Ghost in what form he pleased to commissionate Christ the giver of all Commissions and yet the Eternal Spirit or Holy Ghost was in the Person of Christ alone Reason Let me but ask thee this once and I shâ—ll trouble thee no longer that is let me hear thee discover thy thoughts betwixt the Holy Ghost and the gifts of the Holy â—host whether it be a Person of its own or onely in the Person of Christ alone Faith As I said before so I say again That if the Holy Ghost had a Person of its own so the Lord and giver of life then its Person must be in the form of a man suitable to the person of Christ in that it is the very nature of Christ so every Nature hath its own form so the form of Christ but that which descended upon Christ was not the Holy Ghost but the gift of the Holy Ghost for as I have said before Christ who had the Holy Ghost in him invested the gift thereof upon Elias that so Elias might protect and preserve Christ in his non-age as aforesaid so that I say the essence of the Holy Ghost is inherent in Christ alone from whence the gifts or influence of the Holy Ghost flows for by my Revelation I know that when Christ ascended to his Majestie on high he sate down on the right hand which signifies that Elias's power and authority
though dead five thousand three hundred years ago yet at the day of our glorious Gods appearance each seed or soul shall arise with bodies suitable to their natures that soul or seed of faith that believed in our Commission shall ascend to meet its Saviour in the ayre and that soul or seed of Reason that despised our Commission shall arise a spiritual body upon this earth tormented to all Eternity 16. It is to be believed That the Kingdom of glory where Christ the onely God his Elect Saints and Angel doth and shall inhabit to all eternity is non-globical where God and his mighty Angels can at their pleasure with their bodies fly as swift as thought ten thousand miles in a moment and when he pleaseth God can stand sit lie in as narrow a compass as my self for none but our Revelation knows that there is an immortal Earth Sea Fish Fouls Beasts Hearbs Trees yea all things immortal glorious there as they are mortal deformed here and all this for the contemplation of God his Elect Saints and Angels to whom let all ye that have or shall have belief in our Commission so living and so dying in the truth of our Revelation sing praise glory and honour that ye shall see and enjoy what now ye do believe as touching our Commission 17. It is to be believed that certain men and women have and will seeingly come to the belief of our Commission insomuch that they have rejoyced in it contended for it yea have said they desired to depart this life in the belief of it and yet being according to birth the seed of Reason and not the seed of Faith in time of persecution riches glory and honour of this world fell away to their eternal perdition as I could name some but wo wo for as sure as Christ is God they shall never see that glorious Kingdom aforesaid 18. And lastly it is seriously by you to be observed That by believing the truth of what I write you will finde great satisfaction when I am taken from you that as this is the last Commission so the the the truth yea the onely truth that shall remain to the end of this bloody unbelieving world to reminde you of this one thing that it is not to be expected many to come to believe a Commission as to a notional dispensation for in the two former Commissions they cryed out Two of a Tribe one of a City so few in their Commissions that the Prophet Elâ—jah said I even I onely am left and they seek my life to take it aâ—ay and then saith Isaiah Who hath belâ—eved â—ur report and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed So few that in the time of Christ at his sayings they were so hard to be understood that there fell away 70 at one time nay none stuck to him but the Apostles and a few more And then in the second Commission there was so few that really believed that sometimes Paul had but two or three stood by him in the faith And now in this our last they are so few that they are not worth the numbering among the multitude of notional Churches and therefore forget not that saying of Christ Strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life and few there be that finde it But herein comfort your selves that those few of you that really enters in shall feel yea see and behold your God face to face yea sing out triumphing voyces of joy with eternal harmonies of divine musick for ever yea for ever in that glorious Kingdom aforesaid prepared for Christ your God and you his Elect Saints with the Elected Angels world without end so that ye shall sit stand lie walk go flie at your pleasure having nothing to say but glory here is the height of glory in the presence of our Saviour yea an endless glory without end These twenty particulars underneath asserted in the Quakers Downfal by Scripture proved and in that Revelation infallibly confirmed that Law Claxton the onely Bishop and true Messenger of our last Commission doth in the death of his soul seal them a real truth in confutation to the Quakers blinde Reasons imagination which are as followeth 1. That faith shall dye in the heel and reason in the head 2. That the Angel did descend into the womb of Eve 3. That a spirit cannot live without a body p 28. 4. That we and our God are cursed to all eternity p. 28. 5. That Christ or God is above the Stars with a body of flesh and bones 6. That God that Christ said was a spirit the meaning of his Revelation was that his invisible soul was that God or spirit abiding onely in his person p. â—9 7. Thaâ—â—eason is the seed of the Serpent 8. That by faith reason shall be kept in eternal death 9. That God gave Faith â—easâ—n and Sense but onâ—e 10. And that Faith Reason and Sense have in all generated in its kinde form and nature as in p 40. 11 That the Devâ—ls Kingdom and Reasons Kingdom are one 12. That God doth damn as well as save and that not for any evil thing done as he hath asserted in p. 58. 13. That we acknowledge no other God but what was within us 14. And that we conceive this God was an infinite nothing and so made all things of nothing 15. That the light in us is darkness 16. That an Infinite Spirit without a body is nothing 17. That we say God hath no form 18. That all the time Paul was cloathed with a corrupt persecuting spirit he was a vessel of honour in the account of God 19. That God is all Faith and no Reason and that Reason is of the Nature of the Devil p. 31. 20. That it was the wisdom of the flesh that made a chief Magistrate as in p. 36. In the next place I return as the Majestie of Christ the onely God in condemnation of your Diabolical perjâ—red lies against the holy Spirit of the nature of the most high God now revealed in us his last powerful infallible Prophets and Messengers of his eternal Majestie in the highest Heavens brought upon record in our Revelation as in your Reasons libel verbatim are asserted by that son of perdition J. Harwood 1. L. C. said He would prove God to be a man flesh and bones as we are Now ye the Believers of our Commission take notice that of which of these twelve particulars before quoted you by my pen finde silence we own as eternal truth but the rest that I set my pen against was not our words but Reason the Devil-lying imagination by those aforesaid Quakers as do but observe and thou mayest discern how I binde them hand and foot from their supposed light yet real darkness as seriously minde the first forged lie 3. L. C. said He had nothing of God in him and many other places nought of God in him Answ That you the blessed of the Lord may know