Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n
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A52717
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Several papers of confessions, prayer, and praise; by James Naylor: concerning his fall and restoration
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Naylor, James, 1617?-1660.
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1660
(1660)
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Wing N316; ESTC R215561
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28,774
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41
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SEVERAL PAPERS OF CONFESSIONS PRAYER and PRAISE By James Naylor Concerning His Fall and Restoration A Just Man falleth seven times and riseth up again but the Wicked shall fall into Mischief Prov. xxiv 16. LONDON Printed in the Year 1659. To those who were in AUTHORITY whom the LORD is now Judging that they may Repent and find Mercy from God By James Naylor With His Letter to King CHARLES II. OH Men of England whose Day is over and whose Time is passed away from you and you are now left as Men in Desolation and Darkness You had a large Day and Time to have done good and to have answered God's Requirings of you and your Engagements to him and so to have laid up Treasure with God against the Evil Day which is come from far upon you and you had a large time and a great Power in your Day to have made you Friends of the Unrighteous Mammon by doing Justly and shewing Mercy therein that so you might have had a Habitation in the Day of Adversity And in your Day the Heavens were fair and the Son gave you his Light shining upon you through many Clouds that seemed to arise over which he sent you Light that in his Light you might have walked and seen Light and his Visitations and Risings towards you was often and his Appearance was lovely towards you even as a calm Sun-shine after a stormy Tempest and as warm Clearness after Rain to the softning of the Earth and to make it Fruitful that he might have received of his Tillage a good Savour from the Fruit of his Labours and have blessed you But Oh People You would not hear nor regard in that Day when his Work was good towards you every Morning and his Mercies upon you all the Day long but you grew high and lofty in your selves and Proud in your Minds and Self-conceited and Self-ended and hardned your Hearts against his tender Witness in your Conscience and walked Rebelliously against his good Spirit in your own Hearts and he could not cause you to hear but you grew past feeling of any thing that is called God in you Then you dayly waxed Fat and Fulness encreased and Pride gendred into your Hearts and you grew wanton and kicked against him that bore you and made light of his Bricks in your Consciences Thus was your Ear stop'd towards God and you wholly lost from all that he might speak unto you in Spirit or Counsel or Fear and from the Way of his Teaching and Reproof you was utterly gone and had removed your Hearts far away from hearing his Voice for you had filled them with Pride and vain Glory and your unjust Gain had made many of them even as the nether Mill-Stone so you became unmoveable in your Way Then did the Lord raise him up Servants that would hear and gave them his Light to see what you were doing against the Lord your God who had redeemed you out of all Adversity and had raised you up out of a low Estate and had done for you exceedingly even to win you as a People to himself And also what God was a-doing against you because of this your contrary walking towards him and that he would certainly bring you down before your Enemies if you did not return and humble your selves before him And these he sent amongst you with his Word rising early and sending them to speak his Mind expresly what he minded to do and it could no longer slumber But you would nâ—t hear neither would you believe but the same which had stop'd your Ear and hardned your Hearts in your own selves from feeling that had wrought too such Hardness Dullness and Unbelief till God's Word could have no Entrance into you nor his Servants Liberty to walk among you to publish it But you begun to Question in your unbelief whether it was the Word and in your Pride to scorn it And in the Hardness of your Hearts then you begun to persecute the Messengers of the Lord which he sent with it to you for your Good and many Hundreds suffered in all Parts of the Nation upon this Account till there was no hope of your hearing or obeying the Voice of your Return Then did the Lord raise up Signs and Wonders among you if by any means he might appear as one to be feared or observed by you And he stript his Children naked and sent them among you and some he cloathed in Sack Cloath as mouring over you And some with Ashes upon their heads he sent into your Assemblies of Worships and your Assemblies in your Feasts and of your Fasts which was all Abominable to him while you walked in your own Ways and would not hear his Voice but these you used worse than formerly and your Rage encreased in Stocking Beating Whipping and Imprisoning until the Cry of Oppression was so great that there was no Remedy and then the Lord arose and shaked you in Pieces as a Mighty One in his Anger and broke you with such a Breach so as you could not be healed nor be a Power any longer and so hath brought the Wheel over you and from far without help hath he caused the Rod to Blossom And the Just Lord is now seen in the midst of you and which of you is able to stand before Him in Judgement or to Condemn Him in the thing he hath done and Captivity is taken Captive before Him and you that did Imprison are imprisoned and you that sought to make your selves dreadful by Oppression now knows not where to hide your selves from the mighty Day that 's coming upon you from the God of the whole Earth And now this is the Word of the Lord to you all you Sturdy Oaks and Tall Fruitless Trees whom the Wind of the Fierce Wrath of the Almighty hath thus shaken Hear the Rod and who hath appointed it and how before the Terrible Iudge of all flesh and seek not to save your selves with your former Consultations with that Spirit in which you have always Rebelled against God till this Day and in whose Counsel you have wrought this great Evil to provoke the Lord and in which you have ever rejected his Word in your selves and others neither trust to your Friends to make Flesh your Arm yet farther to provoke the Lord to your utter Confusion neither trust in your Prayers or Performances or ought you can do while you are in that Rebellious Spirit of Disobedience to God's Witness in your own Consciences for verily God will not hear you while you are unwilling to hear him And now for this he is come near you at last to Judgement and he hath brought near his Righteousness that you might see it and lay hold on it and make Peace therewith now at last for your Souls that you may be saved and your Return must be first to that Spirit against whom you have Sinned there to make Peace And now spend not your time in vain Talks and vain
to deceive that all may be warned by what I have learned in Sufferings and they that will not may be left without excuse JAMES NAYLOR Written in Bridewell about the Beginning of 1658. FINIS LONDON Printed in the Year 1659. TRUTH Cleared from Scandals Being James Naylor's Answer and Declaration Touching some things Charged upon him in the Lancashire PETITION HAVING heard of divers Untruths cast upon me by some of the Priests in their High Places though I stand only to the Lord in respect of my self yet least any that love the Truth should be led to speak Evil of the things they know not I shall lay open the Truth as it is in me Revealed touching those things Jude 10. Re. 19. 13 1 Joh. 1. 1 2 3 4 5. 1 Pet. 1. 25. John 1. 14. Eph. 5. 30. 1. 21 22. Joh. 8. 12. 2 Thes 2. 8 2 Cor. 6. 16. 1 Cor. 3. 16 17. whereof I have been Falsly Accused 1. Concerning Jesus Christ who is the Eternal Word of God by whom all things were made and are upholden which was before all Time but manifested in Time for the Recovery of Lost Man which Word became Flesh and dwelt amongst the Saints who is the same Yesterday and to Day and for Ever who did and doth dwell in the Saints who Suffered and Rose again and Ascended into Heaven and is set at the Right Hand of God to whom all Power is given in Heaven and in Earth who filleth all Places is the Light of the World but known to none but those who Receive and Follow him and those he leads up to God out of all the Ways Works and Worships of the World by his pure Light in them whereby he Reveals the Man of Sin and by his Power casts him out and so prepares the Bodies of the Saints a fir Temple for the pure God to dwell in with whom dwells no Unclean thing and thus he Reconciles God and Man and the Image of God 2 Cor. 5. 18 19. which in Purity and Holiness is renewed and the Image of Satan which is all Sin and Uncleanness is defaced and none Col. 3. 10. can Witness Redemption further than Christ is thus Revealed in them to set them Free from Sin Which Christ I Witness John 8. 34 36. to be Revealed in me in Measure Gal. 1. 16. 2 Cor. 13. 5. Col. 1. 27. 2. Concerning the Scriptures That they are a true Declaration 1 John 1. 3 5. 2 Pet. 1. 21 22. Deut. 4. 2. Rev. 22. 18. Tim. 3. 16 17. of that Word which was in them that gave or spake them forth and are of no Private Interpretation but were given forth to be Read and Fulfilled in the Saints as they were given forth by the Holy Ghost without adding or diminishing and was not given forth for Men to make a Trade upon to get Mony by but as they are they are Profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction for Instruction in Righteousness that the Man of God may be Perfect throughly furnished unto every good Work But they who tread in the Letter and are Ignorant of the Mystery deny all Perfection and none can rightly 1 Cor. 2. 14 15. Joh. 3. 11. Acts 1. 5. 1 Cor. 12. 13. 1 Pet. 3. 2. Col. 2. 12. Gal. 3. 27. Rom. 6. 3. Mat. 26. 26 28. John 6. 51 53 54 55 56. 1 Cor. 10. 16. 1 Cor. 11. 24 25. Col. 2. 10. Acts 4. 32. 1 Cor. 11. 27 28 29 Joh. 5. 20. understand the Scriptures but they who Read them with the same Spirit that gave them forth For the Natural Man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are Spiritually discerned 3. Concerning Baptism the true Baptism is that of the Spirit with the Holy Ghost and with Fire Baptized by one Spirit into one Body not the washing away of the Filth of the Flesh but the answer of a good Conscience towards God by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ without which no other Baptism can Save us they being but Figures or Shadows but this Baptism of Christ is the Substance whereby we are Baptized into his Death and those who are Baptized into Christ have put on Christ 4. Concerning the Lord's Supper the true Supper of the Lord is the Spiritual Eating and Drinking of the Flesh and Blood of Christ Spiritually which the Spiritual Man only Eateth and is thereby nourished up unto Eternal Life without which Eating there can be no Life in the Creature profess what you will and all who Eat of this Bread and Drink of this Cup have real Communion with Christ the Head and also one with another as Members and are all of one Heart and one Mind a Compleat Body in Christ Now the World who take only the Outward Signs and are not brought into a discerning of the Lords Body Eat and Drink Damnation to themselves and so become guilty of the Body and Blood of Christ and calls this a Communion but Lives in Envy Strife and Debate Fighting and going to Law one with another for Earthly things 5. Concerning the Resurrection That all shall arise to give 1 Cor. 15. 38. an Account and receive at the Last Day according to their Works done in the Flesh whether Good or Evil these Bodies that are Dust shall turn to Dust but God shall give a Body as pleaseth him that which is sown in Corruption shall be raised 1 Cor. 15. 42 43 44 46 50 51. in Incorruption it is sown a Natural Body it is raised a Spiritual Body and as we have born the Image of the Earthly so we shall bear the Image of the Heavenly But Flesh and Blood Rev. 20. 6. Phil. 3. 21. 1 Cor. 15. 20. cannot Inherit the Kingdom of Heaven neither doth Corruption Inherit Incorruption for we shall all be changed But they who cannot witness the first Resurrection within themselves know nothing of the second but by hear-say And therefore say 1 Cor. 15. 47. Col. 1. 15. some of your Teachers that Christ is in Heaven with a Carnal Body now that Christ who is the first Fruits should be there with a Carnal Body and the Saints with a Spiritual Body is not proportionable 6. Concerning Magistracy That it is an Ordinance of God Ordained for the Punishment of Evil doers and an Encouragement Rom. 13. 3. to them that do Well Where Justice and Righteousness is the Head and Ruleth without Partiality that Land is kept in Peace and those who Judge for the Lord I Honour as my Jude 16. own Life not with a Flattering Honour of putting off the Hat and bowing of the Knee which is the Honour of the World having Mens Persons in Admiration because of Advantage for Self-ends but from my Heart for Conscience sake Rom. 13. 5. as to the Power which is of God and not to Mens Persons For the Scripture saith He that Respects Persons commits Sin and is Convinced of the Law as are Transgressors And