14. 21. 23. and 15. 1-4 5 7 c. though such as were never firmed in that foundation especially being kept from firmness therein through retaining divers lusts and such as after knowledge of the truth received do wilfully sleight reject and turn away from that preaching of the Cross as foolishness having itching ears to listen or inquire after any thing that may be plausible and also suitable to some lust of their own yet secretly retained and pursued though such I say may be and are turned aside to fables and led captive by such spirits Therefore let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity 2 Tim. 2. 19-22 and 3. 6 7. and 4. 1-4 Joh 15. 6. But to return to our present business in that which was said to the discovery of his abuse of these Scriptures and against his witness concerning himself yet there was no mention of his abuse of those two Scriptures fore-mentioned nor at any other time in our discourse with you that I know of but being in this false accusation thus propounded as those in which so great strength lyes for you that you have thought fit for them to wave that in 2 Cor. 4. 10 11. as more inconsiderable to your purpose we shall a little consider what they say That Col. 1. 27. saith That Christ in or amongst the beleevers The hope of glory And indeed he is so amongst them all and in or unto all of them for they are all called in one hope of their calling both in respect of the ground and foundation of their hope and in respect of the end of it the things hoped for And truly Jesus Christ and so the Father in him is the original summary and fundamental matter of it in both respects but it is that same Jesus Christ and not another which they had preached in the Gospel to every man see vers 28. and indeed there is but one Lord and not another Jesus not one in the heavens sitting on the right hand of God and another dwelling in us but that same Jesus that is in our nature in that body then and so prepared for him as before set down on the Right hand of Majesty in the heavens even he that person that is personalâ—y absent from the beleever is dwelling in the beleevers heart by faith of and in him and so the Father in and through Christ 2 Cor. 5. 6. 7. Eph. 3. 17-19 1 Pet. 1. 8. Joh. 12. 45. Yea it is that same Jesus after that consideration of him also as in that his own personal body He was delivered to death for our offences and raised again for our justification And so in the vertues thereof is become a perfect Saviour Propitiation High Priest c. And so able to save to the utmost all that come to God by him even as he is preached in the Gospel to every man That is even so in the beleevers heart by faith for he is yesterday and to day and for ever the same And after the same consideration of him he is being received by faith which is the evidence of things not seen in and to the beleever the only bottome ground and foundation of all his faith and hope in God both in respect of the promise of this life and that to come yea the thing hoped for he in through and with whom all things are expected as he is now given virtually and spiritually in the testimony of him so all things pertaining to life and godliness are given in and with him in a like manner and to be enjoyed by faith in him and in the first fruits of the Spirit And when he shall appear again personally in the glory of his Father and with his holy Angels then all things fore-mentioned to be given with him in such manner as to be enjoyed by way of actual possession in fulness and glory and in such enjoyment of his personal presence for ever even the fulness of all spiritual blessings which now we are blessed with in Christ our Treasury and the total and eternal redemption of the body of this glory Christ is in and to our hearts the hope not the possession nor do we possess the glory for then hope should cease but if we hope for that wee see not which indeed we do when Christ our fore-runner is our hope as aforesaid then do we with patience wait for it Surely this Scripture is far from telling us That the glory glorious rest Kingdome and enjoyment of promises which the Fathers dyed in the faith and hope of not having received them was now revealed in and upon them it signifies fully the contrary in saying Christ was in and to them the hope of it Like to this is that 2 Cor. 13. 5. A rule given to prove themselves by whether they be in the faith in that one faith of Gods operation and in which they should be accepted and approved The Rule is Jesus Christ is in you or else yee are unapproved yea stand as disallowed disowned in the Apostles Doctrine and so in Heaven as being not in the faith The thing here to be considered is How Christ is in them If thâ—y be indeed in the faith surely that is easily understood if we consider this Rule of Tryal as it hath relation to the thing to be tryed or proved which is Whether we be in the faith not Whether we be in the actual possession Sure then or for that there will be no need of such trying and proving nor to say one to another know the Lord when tâ—ey shall all know him from the least to the greatest even as they are known which they shall do in that day when that Covenant which is now given them in and with Christ and as he is given shall be fully performed But now while they need to try and prove themselves whether they be in the Faith which is the evidence of things not seen and the confidence of things hoped for that is thus to be proved If Jesus Christ â—nd there is but one Christ and after the same consideration as before if he be in them that can be no otherwise than as before as in his testimony declared the ground and foundation of their faith and hope the matter beleeved and object beleeved in then their faith is of God and centuring in God even the Father for he that seeth him seeth him that sent him and he that beleeveth on him beleeveth on him that sent him he is come a light into the world that whosoever beleeveth in him should not abide in darkness Joh. 12. 44-46 3 Thy third Slander is That I said Paul was in Heaven when he saw the person of Christ there with bodilyeies Truly this also is wholly without any colour of ground from any thing I said or writ That Paul had an immediate demonstration of the person o Christ even of the glorified body in the Heavens and did hear the word of his mouth even receive
discovers the vanity and falseness of their foundation and overthrows it doubtless were wee more acquainted with it and skilful in it we should neither desire nor need any other weapons than that faithful Word to stop the mouthes of these as well as other gain sayers as we have opportunity But having this occasion let me a little minde thee good Reader what principles have indeed administred foundation and opened the gap for such spurious and ungodly apprehensions or imaginations as fore-mentioned 1 This Principle That the Letter of the Scripture is not Scripture or thus That the minde or meaning of the Holy Ghost is not expressed in his words according to the natural import and signification of them no not in things main and fundamental and so in all other things that it may be discerned in the words or records left comparing Spiritual things with Spiritual and things hard and circumstantial with things plain and fundamental as we are therein directed but that the mind or meaning of the Holy Ghost is to be found out and determined by some other spirit This principle hath administred foundation or opened the gap for Popery and also for mens denyâ—ing the Grace of God to manward bringing Salvation to all men in and by Jesus Christ and it administers as good foundation or opens the like gap for all other corrupt principles for take away the Word of the Lord as declared by the Pen of the Scribe and what wisdom is in them yea they do all agree in this fixt great Tradition and rudiment of the World That the letter of the Scripture as they call it or the words as written and left on record are not the faithful expressions of the minde and meaning of the Holy Ghost only they differ in determining what shall give the sence The Papists say the Pope or Counsel The opposers of the good of all men not much unlike them say the late Fathers of the Church and they must bee such as they will account so too or learned men of the times And these that follow after differ not much they say it must bee some spirit of or in them which they suppose to bee infallible As much ground for the one as for the other and so for taking away one part of the Word of the Lord by one as there was for taking away another part by another yea their bottome-Principle is one 2 Another Principle that hath laid or is properly the foundation of such corrupt Imaginations as before is that the eternall purpose and decree of God is the absolute cause of mens sin reprobation and destruction This properly makes sin no sin or nothing sinfull but all mens actions and ends of God and also takes away the equity of his Judgement against them which commit such things and so leads to vain and ungodly Imaginations of no Resurrection or Judgement to come And 3 That which naturally flowes from both the forementioned is That God dissembles with men or pretends that which is not really in his heart when hee offers most men grace in the Gospel and swears he hath no pleasure in their death but that they turn and live This layes the foundation for men even as they would bee like God to dissemble with others and in pursuance of some worldly or Antichristian design to pretend Hamility Mortification Zeal Holiness c while in their hearts they judge no Act or practice to bee evill or sinfull in it self unlesse to him that judgeth it so but as it may hinder that their design secretly pursued Yea 4 That which I conceive hath also done its part among the rest in opening the gap to such unclean spirits is an Imagination that is secretly crept into the minds of and pleaded for by some truly gracious viz. That men may while they are yet in this mort all body and accumbred with the law of sin the carnal mind yet warring in the Members and against the law of the Beleevers mind though in the mind or spirit of the Beleever in a sence dethroned yet so as it is leading them captive still as Rom. 7. 21. 23. And also in the midst of so many subtill and powerfull Adversaries That yet I say in this time of their temptation and weaknesse They may have already so attained and bee already so perfect as that from such time or degree of attainment It is for ever impossible for them in listening to any spirit to bee corrupted from the simplicity in Christ or so to bee drawn away with any errours of the wicked as to fall from their own stedfastnesse or to fall away as Heb. 6. 6. 4. 11. which Imagination not only exalteth it self against the plain Import of these Scriptures Phil. 3. 12 13 14. 2 Cor. 11. 3. 2 Pet. 3. 17. with Heb. 6. 4 5 6. chap. 4. 11. Mark 13. 35 36 37. with many others But as wee have said also opens the gap for any manner of ungodly and unclean spirit by moving the entertainers of it as soon as ever they can conclude themselves to have so attained to forsake or let slip out of their hearts the fear of the Almighty by which they should bee kept from departing from him and presumptuonsly venture upon the listning to and parleying with any evill spirit or way propounded at least if under good pretences yea this Imagination that whether they hear his vayce and follow him or do hear and follow a stranger they cannot fall or perish It hinders them from beleeving or discerning that they are back slidden or fallen when indeed they are so And so from receiving timely admonition while it being but in part they might be recovered Prov. 14. 16. 28. 14 yea this likewise further prepares them for such spirits as wee have dealt with in the following discourse It requiring but a little addition to make up their Devillish Doctrin of perfection yea 5 And lastly All those Principles or apprehensions in which men are directed to have their rejoycing and consolation originally in some gracious frames or quallifications wrought in them or some works of Righteousnesse done by them and not in the Person or works of Christ in his own body for them which Principles are too much retained by many that in words acknowledge him though in these their works they deny him these Principles I say have opened the gap for such spirits which come very suitable to their proper lust and way and seem not at first so to maligne the person and works of Christ but rather to hold the acknowledgement of them though as of things not relative to the ground of their Faith and hope nor as being the matter of their rejoycing and fountain of their teaching in which they agree well enough so that people thus principled as aforesaid have little or nothing really to turn from that they may joyn with what is first commended to them by such spirits only some opinions that were irrellative to the
doctrine which we have learned in the word of the truth of the Gospel compare Rom. 16 17. with Col. 1. 5. and 1 Cor. 15. 1 4. and to avoid them for they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ but their own belly their lust will or spirit or the light in them which is darkness what ever it be if it spring not from the person of Christ as declared in the Gospel who is even so the true light they magnifie not Jesus but themselves in the internal or external operations of their own spirits And by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple under pretence and shew of godliness they deny the power and root of godliness are the enemies to the Cross of Christ his personal sufferings and the only vertuousness of them for the taking away our sin and the love and glory of God as appearing in that face of him This they seek to undermine and sleight under pretence of magaifying Christ in them glorying therein in that which is their shame their internal proof of the mystery of iniquity with power and signs and with all dâ—ceiveableness of unrighteousness in them that perish from the faith for in them only it hath efficacie Phil. 3. 17 18. 2 Thess 2. 9 10 11. from such I say we are streightly admonished of the Lord To turn away 2 Tim. 3. 5. If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema Maranatha 1 Cor. 16. 22. If any pretend to acknowledge Christ and yet lift not up praise not magnifie not above all and unto and for all things pertaining to life and godliness the Son of man Jesus Christ as now already come in the flesh and through sufferings entred into glory for us as the only ground and foundation of our faith and matter of our rejoycing and song to others and fountain of our teaching that is that spirit of Antichrist not to be followed it s indeed not only against Christ but his most pernicious enemy being a contrary Anointing from which we are to flye at least as soon as we perceive it in any as Prov. 14. 7. Go from the presence of a foolish man when thou perceivest not in him the lips of knowledge which I oft after hearing some of their Discourse declared and as I could get liberty thus demonstrated I perceived not to be in them but the lip of a contrary Anointing and yet they are tempting me to follow after them a company and go with them night and day though they know such are my apprehensions concerning them Now whether it be right in the sight of God that I shal obey God or them in thâ—â— let others judge yea I wil in the strength of Gods grace observe the directions of the great Shepherd when any shall say Lo here or lo there is Christ either in this form of Church or State-government or in this order or as these in the secret chambers in some internal operations as found and accomplished in them in such manner as we cannot discern it unless wee lay aside all that knowledge of God in Christ we have received through and according to his word as fleshly â—o go after them appearing the second time without sin unto salvation and accomplishing that rest and hope of glory and perfection now in and upon them which we through the Spirit wait for to be revealed in the Resurrection of the dead when we shall all be gathered together to it which and more to that purpose was Naylors and Farnsworths witness concerning themselves we are I say expresly admonâ—shed then not to go after such and that for this reason in which we are fortified against their juggling That the coming of the Son of man that day of his second appearing in the glory of his Father and with his holy Angels should certainly be as the lightning from the one end of the heaven to the other at once accomplished to them altogether and visible to every eye even to those that shall weep and wail because of it Matth. 24. 26 27. Luke 17. 22 23 24. Rev. 1. 7. Therefore if a Prophet or Dreamer of dreams should tell us of a sign or a wonder and that also should come to pass as we know Antichrist shall come with signs and wonders in the latter dayes to move us to turn aside from following the Lord or to inquire after another God or to take us off from our waiting for his Son from heaven whom he hath raised from the dead we will not hearken to them nor go in company with such wicked men as Deut. 13. 1 2 3. and 28. 14. Psal 1. 1 2 3. 2 They require me to eat no food c. Whereas our Saviour bids his Disciples even those great Apostles who were to give forth the last and fullest Revelation of the Gospel for obedience to the faith among all Nations which was in that first publication of it to be confirmed with Miracles by them also even then when he gives them power in his Name to heal the sick c. yet then he bids them twice together eat and drink such things as they give and set before them among whom they went preaching Luke 10. 7 8. And the Apostle Paul tells Timothy They are Doctrines of Devils that command to abstain from meats which God hath created to be received and that with thanksgiving of them that beleeve and know the truth c. 1 Tim. 4. 3. I shall therefore answer them as our Saviour doth the Devil in a like case It is written thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God 3 They require me to lay aside all books c. the holy Scriptures not excepted Whereas the Holy Ghost tells us he hath therefore written to us excellent things that so our trust may be in the Lord and we may have those words as written and left in record for and to us to answer all that are sent to us Prov. 22. 17. 21. and commends to us the example of a better Preacher than any of them in this That he sought out acceptable safe profitable and plain words for the people and in his search found That which was written was upright words of truth Eccles 12. 10 11. and renders it as part of the character of a godly man he exerciseth himself in the Law or doctrine of the Lord both day and night Psal 1. 2. yea the same holy Spirit commands Timothy to give attendance to reading to exhortation to doctrine to meditate on and give himself wholly to these things and in so doing study to shew himself approved a workman that needs not be ashamed 1 Tim. 4. and 2. 15. But these spirits lay their commands upon us not so much as to look on them in the Records left us in Books neither night nor day A notable peece of policy For if they can but keep us from going to the Law and to the Testimony with their internal light or power they
for habitations of God He hath given these gifts to men some Apostles some Prophets some Evangelists some Pastors and Teachers to perfect or furnish the Saints for the work of their Ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ till we all come in the unity of the faith and knowledge of the Son God unto a perfect man c. Psal 68. 18. Ephes 4. 7-11 c. 1 Cor. 12. 7. c. And so the Apostle Peter said of that which they spake and others heard that that was of those gifts which Christ had received on the right hand of his Father and did then shed forth Act. 2. 16. 33. Though the gifts be divers yet all given by that one and the self-same Spirit that lifts up and glorifies Christ according to the faithful record 1 Cor. 12. Rom. 12. Yea all those gifts distributed and set in the Church since the first Apostles who also opened the Prophets and were last in respect of that their peculiar Office or work of giving another manner of and fuller revelation of the Gospel than had been given before and that for obedience to the faith among all Nations for his name I say all gifts distributed and given unto beleevers since who through their word beleeve they are for the comparing and opening Scriptures or shewing the things of Jesus Christ to others by and according to them and to what is written and already revealed in them The holy Scriptures especially as now compleated since the dispensation of the fulness of times came forth by the Apostles being able to make wise to salvation though faith which is in Christ Jesus c. And throughly to furnish the beleever to all his service in exercise of those gifts he hath received from God for the profit of others Thirdly We come now to consider how or wherein any may be said to deny the Alone sufficiency of Gods teaching surely that may be seen in the forâ—er considerations 1 That they deny the Alone sufficiency of Gods teaching that either deny the Lord that bought them or acknowledge and confess him not according to the testimony God hath given of him Do not lift him up â—â— magnifie him in his Cross with the ends and vertues thereof as declared in the Apostles Doctrine as the ground and foundation of all Faith and Hope the matter of our song the fountain of all our teaching do not acknowledge that vision of God in Christ to be indeed as now revealed The Vision of all visions and sufficient in the light and power of God in and with it to teach and open all Doctrine and lead into all Truth I say such do therein deny the Alone sufficiency of Gods teaching that being as before the summary matter of his teaching and the way of his teaching all things and leading into all truth 2 They that deny slight or throw by the holy Scriptures either in their authority or clearness certainty agreement truth or sufficiency as not being able to make wise to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus and throughly to furnish the man of God to all his service c. as before without some additional helps of mens learning or art or without the imaginations of their own spirit or some other spirit than what is in and with them to give the meaning and lead to the use of them they that come not up to those sound words as delivered by them that have spoken to us in the name of the Lord in which the righteousness of God is revealed from Faith to Faith as it is written They to whom the pen of the Scribe is in vain for opening and interpreting the mind or meaning of the Holy Ghost what wisdom is in them surely they have therein rejected the word of the Lord while they render that as a dead letter and so vain and empty fallible and uncertain without the addition of their gloss or fancy which they have not seen heard or met with in that word of the truth of the Gospel And therefore not by the Spirit Jerem. 8. 8 9. Col. 2. 18. 3 They also that dispise and slight as fleshly and of man the Instruments and Means of Gods appointing the Posts or Pillars of his setting up for these his teachings to be conveyed and brought near unto us in or by and for us to waite upon him in Prov. 8. 34. 9. 3. Zach. 7. 9-12 2 Tim. 4. 1-5 They despise not man but God who hath also given us of his holy Spirit 1 Thes 4. 2. 8. They are sensual what spirituality soever they pretend not having the Spirit Jude 19. 1 Joh. 2. 18 19. Hebr. 10. 24 25. And of this sort I fear they are that had a hand in the forementioned Queries But hoping some of them may not yet be given up to Delusion and however for the benefit of those that desired it and of others I shall yet adde something farther in Answer to the Queries many of them being answered in this already said 1 Query What and where that New Jerusalem is which John saw â—â—â—â— down from heaven c Rev. 21. Answ 1 It appears not yet come down in or unto you for you profess yet to be travelling with pain and grief of heart and bowels yerning for the miseries others are like in your apprehensions to fall into And that Christ might be formed in them But though such pity pain and grief towards objects in misery or in evill wayes leading to it as you pretend be in truth in the hearts of such as indeed love the Lord Jesus Christ and hold fast his name and grace therein in the time of this mortality yet in that New Jerusalem when come down from heaven there shall be no more crying pain nor tears they shall be all wiped away All former miseries and occasions of weeping shall be forgotten Isa 25. 6 7 8 9. Rev. 21. 4. They shall even rejoyce when they see the smoke of their torment rise up for ever whom before they pitied Rev. 19. 2 3-7 with Chap. 14. 2 3 10 11. 2 But for farther Answer It is not yet come down from God out of heaven unto any It is yet as our life is hid with Christ in God when Christ who is our life shall appear then shall we appear with him and be like him in glory That it is not yet come down from God out of heaven though beleevers by faith do come unto it in and through the Gospel especially as now come forth Heb. 12. 22. This appears 1 In that it s shewed in the vision then to come when he makes new heavens and new earth and all things new Rev. 21. 1-5 which are things that he will make not hath made Isa 66. 22. And which all beleevers in this corruptible state of the world all the time of their mortality are yet looking and waiting for 2 Pet. 3. 12 13 14. Tit. 2. 12 13. Phil. 3. 21. 1 Thess 1. 10. Isa 25.
but took it in writing as matter of accusation against me shewing what Generation you are of such as ever sought accusation against the Son of God where hee is manifest to salvation but who are ignorant of his salvation could never bear the confession of his name And when I confessed the flesh of Christ your carnal reason stormed at it like the blind Jews saying How could I have his flesh in me which one of you after confessed too when he saw the letter declared of it so that further than your carnal reason can read in the lâ—tter You will not beleeve what a Generation would you have been had you lived in the times of the Apostles who preached down Circumcision Temple and Sacrifices without such things as the letter said should continue for ever yet they preached them down without and confirmed them within in spirit which is the ground and bottom of all and in which all must end And that the word which became flesh which is ascended they knew to be the Bread of life which they broke and fed on who was their Rule and Mediator But the ground of your Faith is seen and what testimony you bear who say The Scripture is the absolute rule and medium of Faith as thou Thomas Moore didst before the people And when I asked thee if God could not give Faith without it then thou wast forced to deny what thou hadst said But such Doctrine as this thou makest people beleeve who are ignorant and not able to try thy spirit Oh shame with thy preaching If the Scripture be the absolute Rule and medium then Christ is not the absolute Rule unless thou say the Scripture is Christ And thus thou not knowing Christ to rule thee thou settest the letter in his stead for the Rule of Faith But of Abrahams Faith thou are not nor knows it who had an absolute Rule before the Scripture was But this Doctrine excludes all from faith who have not the letter so thou that art a Minister of the Letter preachest another Rule and Faith than ever any of Christs Ministers preached who preached the Word and Faith in the heart of them to whom they preached and Christ in them who is the absolute Rule and ground of Faith and the Law written in their hearts and the Spirit of Truth their rule and guide into all truth and the light in their hearts which gave them the knowledge of God and his glory which never was known by the letter without and Christ saith the Kingdom of God is within you which the Pharisees durst not deny Rom. 10. 8. Hebr. 8. 10 11. Joh. 16. 13. 2 Cor. 4. 6. Luk. 17. 20 21. But thou art more brazened against the truth and wouldest exclude God out of his Kingdom and perswade all thou canst not to look for him within but without lo here lo there But Christ saith Go not forth to such Teachers and thou art found to be one of those he forewarned of and in that work he foretold of which is against him and with the same spirit thou art seen to be an enemy to his Appearance who is the eternal life of his people which is not without the knowledge of God in his Temple for death reigns in the creature where God is not present and this word of Reconciliation thou withstands and all that are led by thee will have cause to curse thee when it is too late and time is spent to no purpose and the day of visitation passed over And from the immediate call which I witness wherewith I am called I do testifie against thy false Doctrine who denies That any have been immediately called since Christ ascended onely those who saw him bodily upon earth and when I instanced Paul thou saidst he saw Christ personally with his bodily eyes when he was called And when I said then must he be come personally again since he ascended then thou saidst Paul was in Heaven and saw him there with bodily eyes when the Scripture saith he was fallen to the earth and saw no man with his bodily eyes being blind three days and such confused stuff thou utteredst forth to uphold thy lyes wherewith thou keepest blind people in Babylon but with the light thou art comprehended thy ground root off-spring and end praised be our Redeemer for ever and in thy paper thou tellest of his seeing Christ after the same manner the other Apostles did Then must it either be bodily upon earth or the other went bodily into Heaven to be called both which are yet unproved by plain Scripture And thy implying is no ground for me to beleeve that which I know is alye and here thou art found preaching another Gospel which no plain Scripture will warrant and all that know God in them sees thee acoursed and thy Antichristian Doctrine who denys the Father and the Son and fellowship with them who hath spoken to his people in all ages and does at this day where the â—ar is circumcised but the serpents seed could never hear him whose ears are open to that wisdom yet canst thou not be content to speak thy own condition but in thy busie mind wouldst exclude others and this is thy work to shut up the Kingdom and deceive the Nations that are without but we are entered and the Elect is witnessed which cannot be deceived and we know him that is in us and we in him onely they who will not own the light such are made to be deceived and over such onely hast thou dominion for a season But thy time is coming to an end that makes thy rage great And thou are forced to utter what testimony thou bearest such as none of Christs ever preached That God is not known in his people Is this thy word of Reconciliation and to what must they be reconciled if not to God And how must they all be taught of God if they must never hear his voyce more but thy Ministry begets not such children nor such sheep thou knows not but opposes who have seen him and heard him such thou callest false witnesses so thou appearest to be a witness to that which thou hast never seen and many such witnesses there are in the Nation who preach up separation instead of reconciliation which pains might be spared amongst them you preach to all having that by nature but that the Devil fears his Kingdom which is onely upholden by ignorance of God in his people whose eyes are blinded but whose eyes are open and have seen him bear witness of him and what we have seen and heard we declare against all false witnesses who have nought but by hear-say from others who have eyes and see not ears and hear not a heart that doth not understand who knows not the spiritual man his eyes and ears and so judge of God to be like themselves as thy companion did say That God had neither eye nor ear nor heart and thus with your carnal imaginations you will judge of
have disowned and of them both together signifies thou knowest it is a lye I say how dost thou know it or how shall we know it when thou bringest nothing at all to prove or demonstrate it to be such Is this all the Answer we must look for when thou affirmest any thing or deniest any thing I know I witness it to be True or I know it to be a Lye Indeed these were the strongest Arguments and Demonstrations we had from thee in our meeting to any thing that I know of and with these and such like in the mouths of divers of you together you could be as confident wise and strong in your own conceit as seven men that could render a reason and stop the mouths of others too with these when you had none of the faithful word to do it withall I know it is a lye and I pray how dost thou know dost thou think we will all fall down and worship James Naylor in receiving what he urges upon us onely in his own name I know I witness c. It may be such may do it as will not receive or have rejected the testimony of the other J. N. Jesus of Nazareth that came in his Fathers name Joh. 5. 43. But give us leave to question how thou knowest and because thou dost not tell us I will guess in this thy conscience knows whether I guess right or no I fear thou dost not at all in thy heart beleeve or acknowledge that one person of Christ as personally absent from thee while in this clay Tabernacle that that which we read of that person and the work done in him is sleighted as figures of some other truth to be found in us is evident enough to me as I shall further make appear anon but that which I here look upon as the ground of this thy confident knowledge is something more namely That thou hast in thy heart wholly rejected the faith and acknowledgement of that one person of the Son of God in our nature in one individual personal body even the same that was crucified slain and hung upon a tree that Jesus of Nazareth to be now received up into glory by the Father in the Heavens and there remaining in the most glorious presence of God even in the Heavens as opposed to the Earth where the former high Priests served and where while he is he is personally absent from us while we are in these bodies on earth I suppose thou mayst think there might be such a one as Jesus of Nazareh and that he dyed as is written of him and happily that he rose again but if thy thoughts go so far I doubt they leave him there even that Jesus of the seed of David after the flesh as one that in all done before in him was but a type of some first appearance to be accomplished in us and now as a type or figure vanishing and ceasing from thence so to be So that what we read of his Ascention into Heaven and remaining in the Heavens until the Restitution of all things and of his second personal Appearance is to be understood of some other internal mystery to be accomplished now in us not so plainly expressed in the words which must therefore be slighted as a dead letter I fear I have almost touched upon thy thoughts though we will not boast as thou dost of compreheading and discerning us perfectly in root end and off-spring while yet God knows and all that know us know thou dost not discover us at all nor speak as one at all acquainted with whence we come or whither we go but as he Joh 3. now if thou be so far given over to strong delusions to beleeve such a lie that there is not such personal body in our nature in the Heavens as before thou must needs from thence be confident Paul did not see him for he could not see that which is not But to remove such false ground of such a confidence there is sufficient demonstration and power in his words as left on Record and will be yet to thee in the consideration of them if thou hast not wholly crucified the Son of God to thy self and so thy self to the light and power of his words See I pray thee Luk. 24. 39 40. with vers 51. How our Saviour in the last discovery of himself to his Disciples after his Resurrection and before his Ascention demonstrates himself to hâ—ve a real body and not onely the shape or appearance of one which a spirit without a body may assume by his having real flesh and bones to be felt And that body to be he himself the same that was peirced and nailed to the cross so demonstâ—ated by his hands and his feet â—â— little before to Thomas by his side and hands Joh. 20 27. and at that time of his having so demonstrated himself unto them he led them out as far as to Bethany and be lifted up his hands and blessed them and it came to pass while he blessed them he was parted from them and carryed up into Heaven compare it with Act. 1. 9 10 11. Where having in the verses before repeated the Narration of his shewing himself alive to them after his passion by many infallible proofs and then of his commissionating and blessing them he saith And when he had spoken these words while they beheld that may assure us their sences were not deluded but it was even the same person in the same personal body as before demonstrated by his hands and feet his flesh and bones which their eyes had seen and their hands had haâ—dled even that word of â—â—e in that flesh which he was made now spiritualized or made in the Resurrection a spiritual body yet the same so made Even while they behold he was taken up and a cloud received him out of their fight and while they looked stedfastly towards Heaven as he went up behold two men stood by them in white apparel which also said yee men of â—â—lilee why stand ye gazing up into Heaven This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as yee have seen him go into heaven Note the wisdome and care of the Holy Ghost here lest being taken out of their sight they or any after should doubt whether that body as then demonstrated vanished or what became of it He adds here that he was taken up from them into heaven even the same Jesus which they had seen and in this his Ascension in their sight in which he was taken up from them vers 9. 11. with Luke 24. 51. He was carried up into heaven yea saith Mark. He was thou received up into heaven and sat on the right hand of God Mar. 16. 19 even there in the heavens he is â—et on the right hand of the Throne of Majesty there officiating as a Minister of the true Sanctuary c. Heb. 8. 1. 2. Christ after the same consideration of him
the witness of that person and those works as perfect in him is actually received in the receit of the testimony God hath given of him It is a good description of the doer of truth he commeth to the light that he may see all his works that he desires to own as the ground and matter of his rejoycing and hope wrought in God in Emmanuel And so the other place saith the thing was true in them that was true in him not because it was actually wrought in them as in him but expresly because the darkness was past to them and the true light had then shined which disovers him as that onely begotten Son of God full of grace and truth Joh 1. 14. and so learns all truth as it is in Jesus Ephes 4. 21. yea leads into all truth and so gives proof and experiment of the goodness vertue and efficacy or power of the truth in the receit of it through such lifting up or demonstration of the Son of man and so of the truth as it is in him Joh. 16. 13 14. 2 The Jesus or Christ to whom thoubearest witnesse is such as whose second appearing without sin to the salvation of those that look for him with reference to those expressions Heb. 9. 28. is already past or hath been accomplised in thee This is clear in thy letter though there the word second bee left out which was oft urged by thee in discourse That Christ is come again in the flesh since his Ascension which also thou callest thy confessing the flesh of Christ and further signifies in following expressions This to bee thy confession of the flesh of Christ in thee or his comming in the flesh The second time even since hâ—s Ascension in thee And didst call in discourse his appearing again and the second time in thee in his body his flesh and spirit Christ holy harmelesse undefiled separate from sinners made higher than the heavens with many other such like expressions which some took in writing least thou shouldest deny them though not as any matter of Accusation against thee to thy harm as thou slanderest them which writing I not having by mee mention no more than I well remember And is the summe of it in thy Letter Whereas that Jesus the Christ which they have preached is personally received by and continuing with the Father in the heavens untill the time of the Restruction of all things Act. 3. 20 21. from whom all beleevers are personally absent while in these mortal bodies 2 Cor. 5. 6. His second and glorious Appearance in that body in which he once suffered for sin without sin to the salvation of those that look for him with all the blessed hope then â—o be revealed the fulness and Harvest of the Spirit and glorious Redemption of the body is yet to be waited for by all beleevers not accomplished in or to any of them all the time of this present world whence â—he Apostle propounds it as the posture in which the beleever stands all the time of this present world in which he hath ungodliness and worldly lust to encounter with looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearance of the great God and our Savior Tit. 2. 12 13. with 2 Pet. 3. 3. 11. 12. 1 Thess 1 9 10. Phil. 3 20 21. And so that salvation of them that look for him Heb. 9. 28. to the accomplishing of which he shall appear the second time and then without sin in any such imputation of it infirmities or sufferings by occasion of it as was upon him in his first Appearance even in the glory of his Father and with his holy Angels That salvation of them I say is clearly that total salvation that shall be revealed and accomplished in the last time 1 Pet. 1. 5. even after the natural death and in the Resurrection in which they shall be redeemed from the power of the grave in the first Resurrection and so from the hand of the enemy that the second death shall have no power on them but they shall be ever with the Lord posseâ—â—ing the glorious rest and Kingdom for ever which appears in that its a position so placed as answering to the judgement after death mentioned in the former verse Heb. 9. 27 28. In that judgement after death unto which all in these bodies must come Then and therein shall he appear without sin to the salvation of them that look for him so that they shall stand in the judgement having righteousness and strength in the Lord yea in the Lord shall they be justified and redeemed from all their iniquities fully and perfectly and shall glory Isa 45. 24 25. Psa 130. 8. Yea when that Second Appearing of Christ shall be accomplished it shall not then be made or accomplished in an internal operation in this or that or many persons that we should need to look here or there for him but that one person shall appear personally in that his own body in our nature as now glorified with the Father even as he was seen go into Heaven so his second coming shall be visible to all as the lightning from the one end of the Heaven to the other and accomplished to them all at once and together 1 Thess 4. 14-16 Matth. 24. 26 27 28. To corrupt us from the beleef of the truth and expectation of which blessed hope and to intâ—oduce thy other Jesus whom thou didst witness to have appeared the second time in thee even to have come again in the flesh since his Ascension c. as before thou didst pervert these Scriptures that I well remember Luk 17. 20 21 Joh. 14. 3. The first of which thou mentionest now again in thy letter with a great deal of vaunting and reproach as if it spoke so much and so plainly to what thou hadst affirmed as to render it greatest folly shame and blindness to oppose such thy witness of thy self Let us therefore again a little look upon it and see if thou hast not grosly abused our Savior in perverting his words contrary to the plain intent and scope of them See if our Saviour do not in that place clearly signifie That his second coming in that body and therein the glorious revelation and bringing down of the Kingdom and glory is yet to be waited for even by his Disciples all the time of this mortality They themselves should desire to see one of his dayes and should not see it namely in this time and state of their mortality nor till they all come together with all that are his Let the whole Chapter be viewed from the twentieth verse to the lâ—st When he was demanded of the Pharisees When the Kingdom of God should come He answered The Kingdom of God commeth not with observation or outward shew of pomp or glory of this world of which his Kingdom is not as they expected Joh. 18. 36. neither shall they say loe here or loe there for beâ—old the Kingdom of God is
type shadow or figure that so thou mayest confirm thy imagination of something within as the truth Is not this plain in thy comparing our opposing thy witness forementioned and not beleeving concerning the flesh of Christ farther or otherwise than wee read in the Apostles writings with such opposition of the Apostles preaching down Circumcision Temple and Sacrifices without c. in their day Yea its farther plain in that thou sayest The confirming them within in spirit is the ground and bottome of all and that in which all must end In whâ—ch word All thou hast evidently reference not only to the things last mentioned But to the things first mentioned also concerning the flesh of Christ about which was our contest and so thy witness is That the confirming them within us in spirit is not only the ground bottome and end of all those types and shadows of the Law Concerning which neither is thy witness true For Christ is the end of the Law for Righteousness even to every one that beleeveth Rom. 10. 4. yea in the works done and finished in his own body He is the body the prime and main thing figured in all the types and shadows of the Law But also of the personal appearance of Christ and the works done in and by that one person in his own body and the mention of his second appearing the confirming these â— things within us in some imagination or operation wrought or found in us saith Thy witness is the ground and bottome of all and that in which all must end Now if this be not another Gospel or Doctrine than what the Apostles preached and in this Letter so acknowledged too let the considerate Reader judge Yet I shall also here add a word or two to make it farther appear That this thy Message or Doctrine is not another manner of or farther revelation of the same thing or such as in which the things they said should come are declared as fulfilled even so as they said they should be as the Apostles Message or Doctrine as added to and following the Prophets was But so absolutely another Doctrine and contrary to what they have preached that the truth of them both cannot stand together as the things written by the Prophets and Apostles did seeing the Apostles said nothing but what the Prophets did say should come to pass who signified beforehand of the sufferings of Christ and of the glory that should follow The righteousness of God as its now come forth in Christ was so witnessed to in the Law and Prophets that the Apostles Doctrine was but a farther revelation of the same mystery of God in Christ before witnessed and according to what the Prophets had before said should come more fully opening and in all things confirming them Rom. 3. 21. Act. 26. 22 23. 1 Pâ—t 1. 10 11. But this Doctrine in which Gods being manifested in the flesh in that one person and the works done in his own body for us is preached down as they preached down the outward Circumcision Temple and Sacrifices as being but a farther type shadow or figure of the truth it self and that to be found in something else is so far from agreeing with the Apostles Doctrine or witnessing what the Apostles said should come so as therein to confirm their word as they did the Prophets that it wholly contradicteth and blasphemeth both and cannot be in the least measure granted but the truth of theirs is therein denyed For they have in their revelation of the Mystery told us That that Jesus of Nazareth and no other thing or person was the eternal word that was in the beginning with God and was God by whom all things were made and in whom in all Ages was life and his life was the light of men even hee to whom John witnessed that was not John but another person distinct from John and all other persons who was in those dayes made flesh by a work of new creation in the womb of a Virgin and so came into the world in the nature of man and dwelt amongst men in that his own personal body and they his Disciples then in that personal converse they injoyed with him on earth did behold his glory as the glory of the only begotten of the Father there is not another thing or person among men or Angels that is the immediately begotten Son of God the Father and him as so made flesh and in that body delivered to death for our offences and raised again for our justification they did behold and witness to be infinitly full of grace and truth as the fountain for all others and as the truth and body of all types figures and shadows of the Law Yea farther That they in receiving that word and testimony which himself began to preach and which they received immediately from him and fully after his Ascension they had therein received of his fulness in respect of the ministration or revelation of him to be given to mortal men And grace for grace A plaâ—n and full ministration or revelation of the grace of God in and by Jesus Christ to receive grace through whereas our Fathers before though saved by grace yet received that grace through a ministration of works For the law came by Moses but grace and truth by Jesus Christ c. read Joh. 1 1-18-29-40-45 c. The former things were indeed shadows and so they were alwayes signified to be but Christ is the body Col. 2. 17. And what ever is said in the Law and the Prophets of their continuing for ever I mean those typical Sacrifices and Ordinances It appears plainly signified even in those Scriptures of the Prophets if they be compared that in the things themselves that were types and figures of the true and as they were so they were only to continue for ever as Ordinances among them in their Generations till the Seed should come that was promised before that Law was given and in him the truth end and fulfilling of them was to remain for ever and ever The Law was added because of transgrèssion till the Seed fore promised should come Gal. 3. 19. and did in the whole and every part of iâ— shadow out and witness good things to come lead to a better righteousness and hope than was to be attained in or by it and that only to be found in Christ that was to come in the nature of man who is the end of the Law for Righteousness He is the body truth and end of all those former things that indeed were shadows and so was witnessed and directed to by them Rom. 3. 21. Heb. 9. and 10. So that the Law Prophets and Apostles do all agree and with one mouth witness declare and confirm him to be The He the Son of God the Savior of the world in whom onely dwels the fulness of the Godhead bodily In all which former witnesses and latter manifestations of his power and coming they have not made known