forme but shall appeare alwaies in the same glory in and to the spirit of such a Creature So that what changeable forme God is pleased to appeare in to us is to be no Rest or habitation of us but to be led into higher enjoyments or after higher enjoyments of God by the fight and appearance of him though in a low or very meane manner in the form discovered For the end partly why Christ appeared in divers formes to his Apostles and so to many now is because he would not have any Rest in or upon his forme or appearance but that they might be as he was dying to all these and waiting for his ascending into God where he might be for ever swallowed up with the light and glory of God and there to make his and all Saints habitation and Rest The fifteenth false Rest THe next Rest which I shall speak of is The Gospel Faith of Jesus Christ as men cals it which indeed hath some ground of Rest both from Scripture and reason as they thinke Men in our daies have given distinctions of Faith as namely Historicall Temporall and Saving But leaving the two former I come to the latter and shall un bosome my sad experience of deceit in the same 1. Concerning this Saving Gospell Faith I owne their is a Faith which in Scripture is termed Saving yet that which men cals both beleeving and saving I finde not to be so And first of all men cals true Faith A dependance upon Christ or beleeving Christ dyed for them according to the Scripture Now Faith is neither a dependancy upon Christ or beleeving according to our common exposition that Christ dyed for us these if they be so in the heart as a Creature doth conceive yet they are but the effects and fruits of Faith in its spirituall act upon or towards God but this many make their Rest and shelter that if they can but beleeve Christ dyed for them at Jerusalem and that thus beleeving they can goe out of themselves that is onely deny their own righteousnesse and beleeve that Christ is theirs and that he dyed for them this is a Rest sufficient when indeed the poore heart is both ignorant what Faith is and what going out of himselfe is For never can a creature go out of himself to Christ or God before there be a cleere manifestation of God in the heart Now the Creature who is thus Resting upon his beleeving in Christ is altogether ignorant of any manifestation of God to him or in him For Faith is a supernaturall and divine light of God communicated to the soule by the Spirit of God which after this manifestation of light the creature comes to see and behold the glory of God by which Faith he is made to beleeve yea which beleeving is an effect or act of the said Faith upon or towards the same God which is revealed Now in the first place Beleeving is not Faith but an effect thereof Secondly Beleeying is an act of God in us to himselfes and so no Rest Thirdly Nothing which flowes forth from man to God is to be a Rest No act whatsoever is to be a Rest as it is purely exercised in man though of God but mans Rest is to be One who acts all in man who is God Many men are thinking highly of themselves because the Scriptures declare a Christ crucified for man and they are made to beleeve he was so for them and so are made to deny their own workes of doings and to depend onely upon this Christ â— which indeed the poor hearts be ignorant of and know him not neither have any manifestation of Jesus Christ in them in any particular way but onely from their own imaginations and fancies they still confidently beleeve that this Christ is theirs and he dyed for them and here they Rest and make their habitation concluding this to be Faith and the knowledge of Christ which indeed if such a Spirit knew what Faith were or the knowledge of Christ were this would be dissolved if not destroyed and it would finde it's faith and knowledge to be an un-sound and nn-safe Rest to be centred upon So that I say that that is not Faith or beleeving which men so cals and if so it were no ground to Rest upon For In the first place A man must truly know within himselfe what Faith is before man can truely beleeve Secondly Hee must also know what this Christ is he beleeves in before he can depend upon him and beleeve truly in him Thirdly There must be a cleare manifestation of God or Christ in man before there can bee any true knowledge particularly of him by man Fourthly Christs dying at Jerusalem shall then bee known to the heart in a more spirituall manner then ever And the workings of that death shall be found in that heart to bee such as formerly it did not conceive of Fiftly He shall know that dependency upon Christ and his former beleeving in Christ the truth of which he hath formerly tryed by visible signes and marks is now made to be a fancy not Faith and an effect of darknesse not of light And now he findes another dependency and beleeving in him flowing from another ground then before he knew and that the matter hee Rested upon in his own imagination which he before called a Christ dying for him is now changed being it was but his carnall conceptions and fleshly teachings and actings and now he is made to see the spirituall sense and so to judge of the truth of an ever dying yet ever living transfigured glorified Christ so as now he is making his habitation not amongst the beasts of the field in his former fancies and fleshly teachings but in the spirituall heavens where lives all Just men made perfect and all perfect men made to live by or in the life of God or Christ so as he is changed into glory and his Rest is made glorious Sixtly When this is come to passe men shall know really the Mystery of Faith and why it is called a Mystery and that same spirit shall know a difference betwixt the Mystery of Faith discovered to the Conscience coming as it were from God and the keeping and exercising of the Mystery of that Faith in a pure Conscience to God and that beleeving is not Faith as it purely comes from God discovering it selfe and the Mystery thereof to the Conscience But it is the exercise of that said Mystery of Faith by God in Conscience to God So that the Mystery of faith in it selfe is one thing and beleeving and dependency upon Christ if true is another thing But the effect or exercise of the Mysteriousnesse of faith in a conscience which is pure to or upon a God that is pure Seventhly Men may beleeve Christ died for them and from this beleeving may practise such things as are required by him yea may have much peace joy in the same And in this his own works
of them when indeed they are but a Testimony or a Record to set forth in a Mystery what Eternall life is And because the Scriptures say that weary soules are to come to Christ for ease and Rest therefore every soul who in his own fancy and imaginations doth judge himself to be weary may come to Christ and so by his being weary there is way opened for his coming to him For First It may be the heart may be weary of sin because it brings judgement or condemnation Or Secondly It may be weary because of his long travel to and waiting for Christ Thirdly It may be weary because it can no longer abide in these dispensations of Gods leading Fourthly It may be weary because God comes not in his time and reward it for its breathing after and working to attaine God or Christ Now the soul being falsly led out by his owne heart hee instead of coming to Christ onely Rests upon his bare apprehension of this in the letter from his sutability to it in his own spirit and here he feeds and remaines with ease comfort and peace in his own spirit and this hee makes his Tabernacle Though it be true that Scriptures were given to be a visible testimony or declaration of God or Christ according to which God workes in man yet they were never given to bee an inward Testimony or a Rest unto man but the Truth of the letter must be both Revealed Known and Judged of by the Spirit and not the Spirit especially in Internals by the Externall letter neither qualifications in man sutable to the letter in mans apprehension is a ground of faith or Rest without an inward Testimony and Manifestation by the Spirit of the Truth of these qualifications The Eleventh false Rest THE next Rest in order to this upon which men Center their spirits and makes their Tabernacles is the use and applycation of the conceived and imagined extent of Christs death which being so fully declared in the letter without any more they beleeve it upon this Testimony and here is the ground of their joy peace assurance and Rest Now I shall not go about to speake evil of any point of judgement in reference to any particular factions but to come to lay open my own experience and false Rests which in so doing I may come to lay open a way whereby those that are led by the same deceite may come to see it in themselves and so may from sad experience seale to the Truth of what we are saying for many who have gone through this dispensation and have beleeved this to be a Truth when now alas they see that they were both ignorant of what this Christ was or what was meant by his death wanting the knowledge of it in themselves now the terrours of death have or doe sease upon them and instead of being joy and peace unto them it hath produced death and sorrow in them But first of all This soul who is thus Resting upon Christs dying for all he sees the Scriptures saith Hee gave himself a ransome for all The conclusion is this of such a spirit If for all then for me and this he beleeves and this saith hee is the ground of true faith when he is altogether decived For the ground of faith is something out of the Creature in God before time revealed and made manifest from God to the soule in time upon which the soule builds his faith Rests upon it and is kept unto all time in the glory and splendor of it but the soul wanting this in a particular way of discovery he makes the other the ground of his confidence for refreshment peace safety and happinesse and he concludes First That no true faith can be but this Secondly that none have any ground to beleeve but upon this ground When the poor heart is altogether ignorant in his owne breast of the manner of Gods coming to reveale Truth yea himself in his Son by his Spirit whereas now mans ground of his happinesse lyes not in a misunderstood Scripture without him but in a right discerned revealed and known God within him Thirdly This soul daily encreaseth in the assurance of this his Rest by his daily study paines and diligence wherein he fils his head with so much of the Scriptures as indeed hee makes it so glorious as it Conquers his spirits and many more into a follacing himself in this very particular when indeed he is missing the cheesest good which is the life of him who puts an end of all controversy to all such disputes when he comes to appear in the Spirit But alas before no marvell though the poore soule bee running from mountaine to hill though hee forgets him who is the Resting place of Zion Therefore Soule Thou that makest thy habitation amongst the briers and thornes and barren mountains Arise these are not thy Rest they are from a corrupted judgement and therefore are corrupted and if thou stay here they shall destroy thee with an utter destruction all are not proper Rests which are dispensations and manners of Gods leadings but the pure promise of Rest is neither in any thing before in Death and Resurrection but in the ascendings of the heart and spirit of a Creature into God by the descendings of God into the Creature which did raise him from death and the grave and now hath opened the Heavens to him by receiving of him into glory for as Christ did not make his Rest and abode in any carnall or fleshly dispensation though in the same he did enjoy the Father so no heart is to make that his Rest which Christ did not make Every heart so long as it lives below the glory of God so as it is not glorified with God is a heart centring himselfe in a dispensation which shall be dissolved For both man in the dispensation of Christ in the flesh or in a crucified buried or raised Soule is not to abide but in a glorified ascended soule into God where the life is the unchangeable glory and splendor of God dwelling in man glorifying of man in which is the life and center of man truly and unchangeably centred The Twelfth false Rest THe next Rest in order to this is a closing with and drawing comfort from the promises expressed in the Letter of the Scriptures This closing thus with and applying the benefit of promises the whole life center comfort cause of joy peace duties diligence what not to many a soule and from hence when many comes to declare their manifestation of God all they have to say is at such a time a promise was made forth unto them or cast into their thoughts by which they apprehend God and closed with it and from thence did draw comfort and peace from it and this is all the experience of God that is manifested to them or that they have This causes abundance of Rest and security to many a heart and luls them a sleep which is
most commonly Satans way to apply himselfe to such a cure for to cause a soule to Rest below God as is sutable to a Soules condition so he brought in a promise to Christ He hath given his Angels charge over thee c. Mat. 4. 6. Here he came to apply himselfe sutable to the condition of Christ O when once a soule is brought into a Pinacle condition wherein he is brought to see the glory of much then Satan lobours to cause the heart to fall downe and worship him hee coming smoothly and bringing the Promises of God a long with him to back the truth of what he doth and here after the soule is betrayed by represented glory in a promise meerly cast in from Satan wherein the soule fals down and worships the very cunning working and the high exalting of Satan and in this condition he is brought to see and apprehend high things and is brought into a Pinacle to behold almost the glory of every thing made over by Satan to the Creature in a promise upon the soules submitting to him and upon this Pinacle he sets him that is he causes him to Rest and so the poor heart being not wise in the Spirit is deceived and betrayed though the actions knowledge light joy Rest of this soule be glorious and for God in his own eyes yet it is but Satans transforming himselfe into an Angel of light resembling or coming in and working in the Creatures heart in the gloriests manner and shape God workes in But Secondly Others being wounded in Spirit and weary in soule for the want of any glimpse of God leaving no means un-attained to get his soule cured and unburthened and having Rested upon many false props before and being unbottomed of them he tries this particular it being of a higher nature and more likely to speake peace unto him viz. a running to Scripture to finde out some particular promises sutable to his condition and having found out some sutable Promises either presently seems to speak to him from a sutablenesse in him so it may be being a conditionall Promise or else the soule meditates a while upon it and it runs much in his thoughts and at last he closes with it strikes this load and burthen of his spirit here he drawes comfort and peace from it yea it may be so much as indeed the soule is mightily overcome in his spirits with joy and can doe nothing but rejoyce upon which he Rests builds his faith as he cals it and so concludes it to be a manifestation of God I will not deny but God may make these waies if in truth cause of support unto a soule in his travelling towards his Rest But for a soul to strike saile cast Anchor and have all the waves in his heart stayed and his very wearinesse of spirit at this present put to a period is as if the children of Israel had stayed either beyond the red Sea or when God gave them Manna before they came to enjoy a reall possession of the land of promise though God did this either to refresh their spirits and so to under-prop them or else to give them it at the desire and repining of their spirits to see how they would use it or abuse it Now this being a discription of a Saints Spirituall travell though God should cause a glimps of glory or heavenly Manna to refresh a heart to be given to a soule in the view of a Promise yet for a soule to Rest in this and make it his habitation it smels too much of mans deceite and abuse of every dispensation and a daubing up his spirit with untempered morter and so hatches Cockatrice Egges and weaves the Spiders Webbe so that it is but a kindling of a fire man warming himself in his own sparks whose conclusion shall be death and sorrow and before ever the creature know what true Rest is by sweet experience hee must be brought to a death in all these But from my own experience of the fallacy of my own heart and the contrariety of the false Rests that I have gon thorow I make bold to propose these ensuing particulars to such a heart not intending to weaken the workings of God in any poor heart though under low Administration but only to discover the nakednes of man in the way of his own heart And First of all When did the Lord manifest himself to thy soule and give thee a particular right unto and interest in this promise the application of which thou makest thy Rest Secondly How was God Revealed to thy heart in this promise Or whether is it not the great necessity thou hast of it that makes thee fly to the promise and suck sweetnesse life comfort and Rest from it Or is it God in Christ clearly Revealed unto thee in the same For it was necessity that made many run to the Ark and hang upon the outsides thereof though none but those that were within were saved Scribes and Pharisees did challenge a propriety in God and all externall priviledges but it was but from a sutablenesse of holinesse they had to the promise and not Revelation of God in them discovering the Truth the of God to them Thirdly What inward Testimony of God hast thou for thy great joy peace Rest And what is thy inward Evidence that witnesseth the truth of what thou enjoyest For every one that beleeveth hath a Testimony within himselfe 1. Joh. 5. 10. And every heart that hath ever seen the appearance of God within him hath found a lively Testimony coming along with that Manifestation of God which is the only proofe of the truth of what he enjoyeth and not any Qualifications nor outward Testimony either of man or from man 1 Joh. 3. 24. Fourthly How was peace in this particular enjoyed by thee Was it from some inward Voyce of God or discovery of the same Or was it from such a sutable form of words to thy condition either cast in or found out in searching Or was it from a clear Manifestation of the glory of God in thee sutable to those formes of words in the Scriptures without thee whereby the forme of words came to be made good to thee so that thy comfort peace satisfaction or Rest do not flow from the forme of words as thou seest them in Scripture without thee but from the enjoyments of God within thee sutable to that without thee Fiftly What glorious power of God was made out in thy spirit in thy thus closing with Promises Thy thus closing may seeme to be done in power but the spirituall Coming of Christ in the manifestation of his glory is so great as indeed it is not ordinary but extraordinary in the heart of him that knows his coming A Promise Closed with before Christ come in the Spirit may seem to be done in glory and power by reason it may be hee could not before beleeve nor live in that freedome or joy he now lives in
without the creature yet Christ shall reveale and destroy it with the spirit of his mouth and the brightnesse oâ— his coming And true it is that Satan both â—n matter of formes without us and workings within us is transforming himselfe now if ever And truly he within soules workes like God and there is no knowne distinction betwixt his transformings and Christs workings untill there be a true transfiguring of Christ in the glory of the Spirit and this doth finde out all the deceite both of heart and Satan for indeed there is no forme though never so glorious but he will transforme himselfe in it there is no working of the spirit within man but he will resemble it so that none shall be able to know whether it be true or false within him or without him untill this Christ shall appear in light and glory and shall make the same manifest so as oftentimes his thus appearing is compared to the rising of the Sun and the dawning of the day which are degrees of distinguishing light which doth dissolve the imperfect light of the Moone and Starres and is a clear light of it selfe to rule and order to unfold and discover the truth of every thing which under the other dispensations could not be discerned and that is the reason that the Apostle tels them that they have a sure word of prophesy whereunto they doe well if they take heed And he tels them how long it was untill the day dawne and the day-starre arise in their hearts This saying untill prescribes and sets out the limitation of time and the accomplishing of the same as if he should say there is a most glorious day to be enjoyed in Saints which day shall appeare but for your direction untill that day you have a sure word of prophesy unto which if God give you care thereof may be as a rule unto you It being a light shining in a dark place and though for the present you walke by the same yet Rest not there but waite for the spirituall coming of Christ within you which in this word of prophesy is held forth to you and then when he comes he shall be a perfect light within which light shall speak truth and leade the soule thereunto but in the interim Looke to that sure word of prophesy which declares and makes manifest the truth thereof This word of Prophesy was the Scriptures this day dawning and day-starre arising was the appearance of Christ in the fulnesse of the spirit within them So as he often in Scripture is called the bright Morning Starre and as concerning his spirituall coming he is sometimes termed under the notion of the day dawning or breaking as in Cant. 2. 17. and in many others onely to shew unto us that the breaking in of Christ into a heart is like the breaking of the light into the earth when the day begins to appeare and the night is expired as also the rising of the Sun to that purpose he is often called the Sun of Righteousnesse which shall arise and be seene in the hearts of men so that wee see this coming of Christ yea himselfe is a true and glorious light of God in the spirits of Saints so as he makes all things manifest to such a heart whether true or false and this light shall cloath every Saints spirit and all inferiour and transformed lights shall be under such a soules feet triumphing over them seeing the fallacy of them Then First it is this light Christ within the creature who appeares as light which doth expell or dispell all those Clouds which are with creatures in whom he hath not appeared for as the Sun doth expell the Clouds in the appearance thereof so Christ in his glorious shinings forth and breaking in into every believing spirit so as the creature before could not apprehend God by reason of these clouds that lye upon the soule now he apprehends him clearly the cause being by Christ taken away Secondly By this light Christ doth discover all the false Waies and Rests of the creature either in opposition to or being below the true and substantiall way of Rest so that this light Christ in his divine Appearances within the creature doth bring a day of losse upon many spirits when it discovers unto them the vanity of their spirits in running after the wayes of their owne hearts and here they come to see the emptynesse of formes or former flashes and now it may be all the soules knowledge and practise must lye in the dust and be unlearned so as this light brings the creature out of love with his owne Wayes so that now he is free to be led according to the teachings of this light Thirdly This light Christ in its spirituall appearing in the creature doth reveale and discover the Father in this light Christ so as the heart clearly sees and knows the Father and the Spirit the Son and the Spirit One and the Spirit to be both so as this light which in reference to name is called and tearmed Christ yet it is God in this light so that God is said to be light and in him is no darknesse The Father is the fountaine of light the Son is the manifestation of light or the light made manifest now here the soule in whom this true light doth appeare doth know God and him thus sent into the heart by Jesus Christ So that Christ as he is the Rest of Saints is a divine revelation of light in which light and glory the creatures spirit solaces it selfe and rests with much delight in the same and our of this form after enjoyed will not Christ appeare but will be unto such a spirit an everlasting light that now as God lives in light so the creature lives in light also which no creature in the flesh can attain to who cannot be seen felt or heard in the flesh in this dispensation but he is above it consuming of it and continually advancing this light more and more in the creature so as this light comes to be advanced and appeare in greater fulnesse so shall the spirits who are centred in it be advanced by it and the greater this light doth appear in fulnesse the more perfect doth the souls â—est appear and the more shall the spirits be filled with it Fourthly in the fourth place this Spirituall Christ or what he is in the Spirit when he comes to be the Rest of Saints He is spirituall and divine Life without which no soul hath spirituall or eternall life injoyed by him for as a man without the soul is dead so are all men without Iesus Christ within them made manifest so that John very fully layes open this truth 1. Joh. 1. 1. 2. for the life was manifested and we have seen it and bear witnesse and shew unto yon that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested unto us So that we see what the life of Saints is for that life which they here
speak of was Christ Secondly we see the place where it centers before it is made manifest and that is laid open to be in the Father Thirdly the way whereby they knew it and also to be theirs was twofold First by the manifestation of it Secondly by opening the eyes of a souls understanâ—â—ng whereby they come to see that life which now to them is made manifest further he is the life of Saints spiritually considered Coloss 3. 3. 4. here he saith when Christ our life shall appear then shall we also appear with him in glory So that he is here Saints life called and more fuller experienced in every heart who hath found him fully made manifest within their spirits againe he is life of Saints as he becomes the spirituall resurrection of Saints for before ever God bring any Creature into the enjoyment of himself he brings the Creature into a spirituall death not in the body but in the spirit and being layd in the grave aloâ—â— Christ as he is the spirituall life of Saints must be their resurrection I meane the resurrection of their spirits from this spiritual death as he is a dispensation of life and therefore it is written Joh. 11. 25. I am the resurrection and the life he that beleeveth in me though he were dead yet shall he live So that Christ as he is to become the spirituall life of Saints proves an inward resurrection to them in the manifestation of this their life which indeed Paul did experience when he spake these words Gal 2. 20. I am crucified with Christ neverthelesse I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me So that though Paul had been buried into Christs death yet notwithstanding when Christ came to be manifested to him then he proved a resurrection of life in him and by this life was Paul madâ—â—◠〈◊〉 for untill Christ our life comes to be manifest we lye dead voyd of any spiritual life or motion in us and this was figured out in the matter of Lazarus death when Christ came he found him dead and buried voyd of life or motion wherein at last the very breath of Christ breathed out in way of voice Lazarus come forth raised him up and gave life unto him Ioh. 11. 43 44. Two things are here spiritually holden forth First a spirituall death of Creatures when Christ comes to breath upon them the breath of life Secondly by his thus comming speaking and breathing occasions life because his words are spirit and life thus spoken So that it is said The hour is comming and now is when the dead shall hear the voyce of the Son of God and they that hear shall live Now in all this is held forth unto us The spirituall resurrection of all Saints by Iesus Christ coming in the spirit into them so that though this particular be the least looked after yet it is of the highest concernment and not that which most men doat of so much after death So that if we look upon our spirituall resurrection we shall see that the coming of Christ in the Spirit is a manifestation of Spirituall life which proves a spirituall life which proves a spirituall resurrection in such Creatures and in time their Rest and Center Now he being the life of Saints Then first we may observe That Saints life is Iesus Christ Though before they are making out of their own actings according to the law of works do this and live yet now they see that life is destroyed and the cause of all actions to God flowes from this life principled in them and though they are making a life out of enlargement or holinesse in conversation yet this is a life above it unbottoming the creature off from it and centring the Creature in a stable and solid life Secondly the Saints live because Christ lives in them for though before their livâ—â—â—re hid with God yet they were not to live in 〈◊〉 â—o themselves with joy and peace untill it 〈◊〉 manifest from God in them so that they are made to live from the manifestation of life in them whereby they come to know it and so to be made to live by it for ever Cast a Saint into any condition he lives very sweetly because he lives by the life of Christ in him yea he lives sweetly with contenâ—ednesse because Christ lives in him So now to summe up this Christ as he is a spirituall dispensation of God in the Spirit is a Spiritual life by vertue of which life in Saints are Saints swallowed up with it and so centred up in it So that the center or rest of a Saint is eternall and everlasting which is Christ the spirituall life of God in us by which life the Creature doth not only live to but live to do This life is the motion of his spirit so as by this life he doth not onely live but lives to it so that the creatures spirits are wholly set apart to live to God This life is the living in the Spirit and not in the flesh hereby comes the life of Saints to be a life of love and a life of God because they are not at Rest from all their own labors and now all things are acted in them by that Spirit of life which is Christ dwelling in them now Saints wholly live to God by the life of God in them and thus are Saints centred up in God or Christ because their spirits are carried up above the creature into life which is Christ in them becoming spirituall and eternall life to them Fifthly This spirituall Christ as he comes from God and is manifested by God and so known by us and become Rest to us he is spirituall redemption and deliverance Now to looke upon Christ in the Spirit he cannot be manifested but he becomes a spirituall Jesus that is a Saviour of spirits for he was not a Jesus as he was in the flesh but he was a Jesus as he was to come in the Spirit for the flesh could not doe it Yet it was a figure of that spiritual salvation and liberty which Christ is in the hearts of Saints For indeed Jesus Christ is salvation it self and where he in power and glory there is salvation that is he is a Saviour or a deliverer of the creature out of that spiritual slavery and bondage in which he lives So as he is become freedome and redemption to the heart and therefore he is said to be made unto us Wisdom and righteousnesse and sanctification and redemption that is he is manifest in us and so is become a spirituall redemption to us freeing us spiritually from our inward bondage and slavery both that bondage of self and Sathan whereby we are made to live in spiritual freedome and all this freedome and deliverance is Christ in the spirit as he is a spirituall dispensation designed of God for the same purpose though many souls do work out their own salvation by their doing whose salvation is false others having