there is no creature believing God a reasonable soul that shall have true peace here or glory hereafter as is confirmed in these Scriptures Being justified by faith we have Rom. 5 1. Hebr. 10 22. Heb. 11. 6. peace in God and again Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith and without faith it is unpossible to please God I say if God had but a reasonable soul vvhat matter for faith for by reason vve may have peace in God and in reasons belief thou mayest please God But alas poor blinde souls for vvant of this precious seed of faith thou canst not knovv God in form and nature so not believe him as he is 2. Secondly as there is no satisfaction so there is no povver in reason as there is in faith as it is vvritten I say unto you Maâ— 17. 20. if ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed ye shall say unto this Mountaâ—n Remove hence to yonder place and it shall remove and nothing shall be unpossible to you By faith God framed the Worlds by faith Abels sacrifice was accepâ—ed with God by faith Noah was warned of God by faith Sarah belâ—eved by faith Abrâ—ham Hâ—b 11. offered up his son Isaac by faith Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh by faith fire was quenchâ—d the Lyons mouthes stopped the prison doors opened So by faith I knoâ— that Christ is the Everlasting Father by faith I knovv the soul of Christ is all faith and no reason by faith I knovv it vvas his pure Soul or Godhead Father in Christ that dyed and by his own power quickned himself again by faith I know that God in this our last Commission spake to John â—eeve as he spake to Moses and Paul O what a powerful Seed is faith that kills sin kills the Devil yea kills death nay what a high gloss doth the Lord of glory stamp upon faith and not so much as taking notice of reason at all and yet blinde reason the Devil will have God a reasonable soul O if not for fear yet for shame desist thy damned belief and from me observe the Soul of Christ is all Divine Heavenly faith which none shall know what God in his Form and Nature is but he whose faith is Lord over reason in this life Reason If the Soul or Nature of God be not pure reason how comes it then that God saith Come now let us reason together Isa 1. 18. saith the Lord c. which if his Nature as thou saith were all Divine Heavenly faith and not reason I conceive God could not have reasoned the case with them Faith O the gross darkness of reason that cannot understand that it was not the Lord from his own mouth that reasoned the case with them but the Prophet Isaiah for this by faith I know that God never reasoned with any but the Commissionate Prophets whose Seed is of his own Nature and in the vertue of that Commission are Ambassadors in Gods stead to reason the case with them for this I know that faith can take up the words of faith though faith speaks powerfully and infallibly when as reason speaks but dubiously and doubtfully Reason Is it not strange that reason should be the Governour of this World as thou hast formerly expressed and hath by its wisdom erected things in such a glorious form and order as now they are and yet should not be a Seed satisfactory in it self How comes it then that the Governours thereof taketh so much delight and pleasure in this World if man were not satisfied in the affairs of his life surely I cannot see but there is as much satisfaction in reason as in faith for I conceive men endued with reason have more content then men endued with faith Faith Now thou hast raised an Objection that thy experience may silence thee in the various transactions of this bloody World that the mutability thereof floweth from the nature of that Seed reason as instance the grand mutations of thy Kingdom When you had a King before you were not therewith satisfied but cryed out no Bishop no King and through much bloodshed you attained reasons desire for know this faith will shed no blood and therefore observe it is the Seed of reason divided against it self and then reason hunted the King like a Patridge till you had your desire accomplished and when you got victory over the Kings Army then the Bells rung and Bonfires made yea days of thanksgiving kept for joy and now you are unsatisfied for a King again and reason improved all its subtilty to attain its desire and then for joy of that which formerly it killed the bells rung the fire flamed oathes were sworn and healths were drunk till you could not stand to the destruction of your own souls and therefore I say there is no satisfaction in reason let it be never so rich or great in this its Kingdom that it is cloathed with crowns of Gold and deckt with Pearls and Diamonds and attendee with variety of Servants yet in all this reason is not satisfied but sometimes it would enjoy more honour and joys of this World and then it is afraid it shall lose all its honour pleasure and delight that it formerly enjoyed So that I say there is not from the King upon his Throne to the Beggar in the straw whose reason is Lord over faith that hath any true satisfaction at all For alas Solomon tâ—e greatest of all found no real content but cryed out all that he had enjoyed was vanity So that reason in the purest sense is compared to the bottomless pit that hath no end of its imagination and yet such Devils as thee will have God a reasonable Soul when in my Revelâ—tion thou hast heard there is no durable satisfaction at all in reason but faith alone for faith hath a foundation and can limit it self to a small compass yet be really contented without the glory of this World at all knowing this is but mortal and must perish in the desire thereof and therefore faith is satisfied in that it lays holds on that which is Immortal Eternal and shal never perish no more then God himself so that for all thy Kingdom with the glory here below my faith will have nothing to do with thy powers thy trading thy great joy and delight in that they must all vanish as the smoak in the ayre for the delight of my soul is in that glory and riches on the other side of death which is eternal and shall never perish world without end which neither thou nor none of thy Seed shall never see nor in the least measure enjoy But then 3. Thirdly Thou believest in the Holy Ghost the Lord and giver of life which proceedeth from the Father and the Son who with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified c. As unto this I know thou hast no ground in Scripture to Answ prove the
though dead five thousand three hundred years ago yet at the day of our glorious Gods appearance each seed or soul shall arise with bodies suitable to their natures that soul or seed of faith that believed in our Commission shall ascend to meet its Saviour in the ayre and that soul or seed of Reason that despised our Commission shall arise a spiritual body upon this earth tormented to all Eternity 16. It is to be believed That the Kingdom of glory where Christ the onely God his Elect Saints and Angel doth and shall inhabit to all eternity is non-globical where God and his mighty Angels can at their pleasure with their bodies fly as swift as thought ten thousand miles in a moment and when he pleaseth God can stand sit lie in as narrow a compass as my self for none but our Revelation knows that there is an immortal Earth Sea Fish Fouls Beasts Hearbs Trees yea all things immortal glorious there as they are mortal deformed here and all this for the contemplation of God his Elect Saints and Angels to whom let all ye that have or shall have belief in our Commission so living and so dying in the truth of our Revelation sing praise glory and honour that ye shall see and enjoy what now ye do believe as touching our Commission 17. It is to be believed that certain men and women have and will seeingly come to the belief of our Commission insomuch that they have rejoyced in it contended for it yea have said they desired to depart this life in the belief of it and yet being according to birth the seed of Reason and not the seed of Faith in time of persecution riches glory and honour of this world fell away to their eternal perdition as I could name some but wo wo for as sure as Christ is God they shall never see that glorious Kingdom aforesaid 18. And lastly it is seriously by you to be observed That by believing the truth of what I write you will finde great satisfaction when I am taken from you that as this is the last Commission so the the the truth yea the onely truth that shall remain to the end of this bloody unbelieving world to reminde you of this one thing that it is not to be expected many to come to believe a Commission as to a notional dispensation for in the two former Commissions they cryed out Two of a Tribe one of a City so few in their Commissions that the Prophet Elâ—jah said I even I onely am left and they seek my life to take it aâ—ay and then saith Isaiah Who hath belâ—eved â—ur report and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed So few that in the time of Christ at his sayings they were so hard to be understood that there fell away 70 at one time nay none stuck to him but the Apostles and a few more And then in the second Commission there was so few that really believed that sometimes Paul had but two or three stood by him in the faith And now in this our last they are so few that they are not worth the numbering among the multitude of notional Churches and therefore forget not that saying of Christ Strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life and few there be that finde it But herein comfort your selves that those few of you that really enters in shall feel yea see and behold your God face to face yea sing out triumphing voyces of joy with eternal harmonies of divine musick for ever yea for ever in that glorious Kingdom aforesaid prepared for Christ your God and you his Elect Saints with the Elected Angels world without end so that ye shall sit stand lie walk go flie at your pleasure having nothing to say but glory here is the height of glory in the presence of our Saviour yea an endless glory without end These twenty particulars underneath asserted in the Quakers Downfal by Scripture proved and in that Revelation infallibly confirmed that Law Claxton the onely Bishop and true Messenger of our last Commission doth in the death of his soul seal them a real truth in confutation to the Quakers blinde Reasons imagination which are as followeth 1. That faith shall dye in the heel and reason in the head 2. That the Angel did descend into the womb of Eve 3. That a spirit cannot live without a body p 28. 4. That we and our God are cursed to all eternity p. 28. 5. That Christ or God is above the Stars with a body of flesh and bones 6. That God that Christ said was a spirit the meaning of his Revelation was that his invisible soul was that God or spirit abiding onely in his person p. â—9 7. Thaâ—â—eason is the seed of the Serpent 8. That by faith reason shall be kept in eternal death 9. That God gave Faith â—easâ—n and Sense but onâ—e 10. And that Faith Reason and Sense have in all generated in its kinde form and nature as in p 40. 11 That the Devâ—ls Kingdom and Reasons Kingdom are one 12. That God doth damn as well as save and that not for any evil thing done as he hath asserted in p. 58. 13. That we acknowledge no other God but what was within us 14. And that we conceive this God was an infinite nothing and so made all things of nothing 15. That the light in us is darkness 16. That an Infinite Spirit without a body is nothing 17. That we say God hath no form 18. That all the time Paul was cloathed with a corrupt persecuting spirit he was a vessel of honour in the account of God 19. That God is all Faith and no Reason and that Reason is of the Nature of the Devil p. 31. 20. That it was the wisdom of the flesh that made a chief Magistrate as in p. 36. In the next place I return as the Majestie of Christ the onely God in condemnation of your Diabolical perjâ—red lies against the holy Spirit of the nature of the most high God now revealed in us his last powerful infallible Prophets and Messengers of his eternal Majestie in the highest Heavens brought upon record in our Revelation as in your Reasons libel verbatim are asserted by that son of perdition J. Harwood 1. L. C. said He would prove God to be a man flesh and bones as we are Now ye the Believers of our Commission take notice that of which of these twelve particulars before quoted you by my pen finde silence we own as eternal truth but the rest that I set my pen against was not our words but Reason the Devil-lying imagination by those aforesaid Quakers as do but observe and thou mayest discern how I binde them hand and foot from their supposed light yet real darkness as seriously minde the first forged lie 3. L. C. said He had nothing of God in him and many other places nought of God in him Answ That you the blessed of the Lord may know
by the man how the Devil got into him nor how this Devil or Devils went out of him and got into the Herd of Swine nor what become of those Devils in the Sea whether drowned in the Sea or no but however so as I have said before so I say again that there is no Devil without a body that can torment another neither can that Devil if he were not generated in man either come in or go out of man but he must be seen otherwise he is no Devil at all as for instance the distemper of man cannot be cast out but it may be seen and felt in the foul and stinking body that poysoned and distempered the minde of man And how dost thou know that the Soul of man leaveth or goeth out of the body at the hour of death CHAP. 9. Shewing what the Soul is and what it is that dieth how that the Soul which is the life of the body can dye and nothing else but life that dieth Reason VVHY I believe the Soul cannot dye because I conceive it a thing impossible the Soul being an Eternal Spirit cannot be capable of death and besides Solomon saith Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was and the Spirit shall return unto God who gave it So that it is my believe the Soul cannot dye Faith Though this Principle be fully cleared in the Prophets Book called joyful news from Heaven yet I shall reveal the truth of it upon another account that the Soul is mortal so capable to dye otherwise it could not live Eternal for as nothing but life can dye and that life being dead shall be made capable to live a life Eternal Reason Before thou proceed any further let me but hear how that nothing but life can dye which it is conceived by all knowing men that life which thou callest the Soul is immortal and cannot dye Now that natural life that runs in the blood may dye and therefore it is confessed when a man is murthered or hanged his breath is stifled and so the natural mortal dies yet all this while as Salomon saith The Soul goeth to God that gave it Faith Having in our former writings made it appear that Solomon was the highest pitch of Reason that ever was so what he spake was onely knowledge in nature and not by the Revelation of Faith therefore no Scripture For Reason imagineth things that are not and things that cannot be understood by any sober man much less by a man in Revelation as to think that an immortal Soul or Spirit should be limited to a mortal body which is as possible as light and darkness to dwell together as an immortal Soul to live in a mortal body therefore I say that the Soul and body of man are one distinct living and dying essence for the Soul or Spirit in the womb by degrees congeals together into a rational fire of blood and water and so in due time become a compleat body of flesh blood and bone so that the life that is in man is not Divine but natural onely Reason This is strange that the Soul or Spirit of a child should conceive in the womb that being a breath or gift of God and not generated in or by the seed for I read that God breathed into Adam and he became a living Soul so his Soul was not immortal but mortal and so is all man-kind Faith However it is strange to thee yet I know it is a real truth to me that the Word by which God first created life in man that Word or Breath was immortal which by his fall became mortal as at large is cleared in the seventh Chapter and this know God never created but male and female and gave life but once and since every life in its kinde hath generated bearing seed in its self so that from my Revelation I say that the rational Soul or Spirit of man lyes secretely hid in his seed like unto a spark of fire which spark doth quicken it self into a living form like unto his nature and so having cloathed it self with flesh his Soul or Spirit runs invisibly through the whole body and so is one entire substance being both conceived into life in the womb togegether and both living together upon the earth their appointed time and being both polluted together with sin is it not requisite that they should dye together and turn to the dâ—st and nâ—n-being again until the general bodily Resurrection of all man-kind Reason I know no other but that every man hath in him a good Spirit and a bad spirit as it is written The spirit lusteth Gal. 5. 17. after the flesh and the flesh agaâ—nst the Spirit and these are contrary So that by the learned it is believed that there is a natural life and an Eternal life in one man otherwise the body and Soul are both one which in Scripture I never read that these were both one bâ—t two one fleshly and the other spiritual Faith Didst thou know the truth of what thou hast said then wouldst thou know as followeth that every man in his fallen spirit hath remaining a little light or motion in him to justifie all the righteous proceedings of the Creator in his Conscience at the last day yet mind what I say he hath but one Soul or Spirit in him for that which the Apostle calls spirit in this place was a Divine light of life received unto the dark understanding by vertue of a word speaking from the eternal Spirit of the Lord of glory and not the essence of the holy Spirit for I know that those who do expect a glory to come in the invisible Heavens do confess that the spirit of the Divine Majesty is inâ—â—nite unchangeable immortal eternal therefore how thinkest thou it possible for men or Angels to be capable of the indwelling of the 〈…〉 nce of his Eternal Spirit and that which the Apostle calls flesh was mans own Spirit which consists of nothing but confused lying imagination or cursed carnal reasoning against the Heavenly light aforesaid Now that I may answer the last clause of thy demand that the Soul and body is one it is written All the Souls that came with Jacob into Egypt which came Gen. 46. out of his loins were threescore and six â—ouls again it is written Thy Fathers went dowâ— into Egypt with seventy persons Deut. 10. So that it is plain man is sometimes called Soul and sometimes is called a body or person or Soul Body and Spirit and yet man is but one living essence or substance However the learned of thy seed pretend they know much of this when indeed they know the least of all as to separate a mortal soul from a mortal body or to unite an immortal Soul to a mortal body which is as possible to make light and darkness God and Devil one Reason This is strange that none but thou shouldst know or dâ—scerâ— the Soul immortal when
was surrendred into the Person of Christ alone so that after that all the gifts or influence of the Holy Ghost came from Christ as it is written when Christ was ascended to glory then he fills the Apostles full of the Holâ— Ghost which then appeared in the form of a Cloven Tongue and not in the form of a Dove So that it is clear though the Holy Ghost be one intire Divine invisible life in Christ yet take notice the gifts thereof are divers so that the gifts of the Holy Ghost hah various forms though the Holy â—host hath no form but man and that Christ alonâ— And therefore minde the gross darkness of all thy Seed in their Creeds as though the Holy â—host had a Person of its own so the Lord and giver of life when it is written in divers places That Christ is the way the truth and the life I am that bread of life he that believeth on me hath everlasting John 4. life and in his saying to the woman of Samaria But the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up to everlasting life So that the Holy Ghost must needs be in Christ in that Christ is the giver of life and yet such blinde reason as thee will have the Holy Ghost in a Person distinct from Christ the Lord and giver of life when to thy shame thou heareâ—t that Christ alone John 11. 25. is the Resurrection and the Life insomuch that he that believeth in Christ though he were dead yet shall he live So thus much in confutation to the authors and believers of of those Creeds Yea from the Revelation of my Faith I infallibly against Angels and all thy Seed of Reason conclude â—hat so many of them so living and so dying in the belief thereof shall with thee perish eternally Yea in the Vertue of our Commission I say there is no God that can or will deliver thee or them to all Eternity A DIVINE PROSPECT FOr the Elect of the Lord that after our departure shall come to the belief of this our last Commission though ye knew us not in our life time yet you have the Revelation of faith left upon record by which you will be supported in believing John Reeve and Lodowick Mugglton the last Commissioners that ever shall appear in Reasons Kingdom as also that I am the onely Bishop or Messenger in Revelation bearing witness against all Gain sayers to the truth of this Spiritual Commission now in being and so to remain till time be no more on this side of death then and at which day it shall be made manifest that we and onely we were the last Messengers of Jesus Christ who at the day of Resurrection shall ascend to glory in the publique view of our Enemies as also all other believers who credited our report not weighing their lives unto death Which when we and all that knew us are in silent dust then I say our Revelation will be in great esteem bâ— the next generation of faith succeeding And therefore that there may be no division among you from the Lord of Glory I reminde you of these enâ—uing Propositions they being a breviate of all the chief heads that my Revelation hath reduced from the Commission 1. You are to believe There was to be three Commissions before the end of this world thus recorded The Spirit Water and Blood and these are the three that beareth witness upon earth 1 John 5. 8. 2. It is to be believed That a Commission is given forth by laudible voyce of words to the hearing of the ear from the mouth of the Lord Jesus in the highest Heavens 3. It is to be believed That who ever pretends a Commission not being one of these are real whimsies notions yea lies and no truth 4. It is to be believed That though a Commission consist of few words without encrease yet their Revelations are various and encreaseth daily 5. It is to be observed That the two last Commissions are not to offend or defend in point of Externals but either active or passive to yield due obedience to King Governor or any other Magistrate whatsoever 6. It is to be believed That no Commission ought to be obedient to any formal Dispensation but in their time or place hath power to curse either Angel or man that in opposition thereof shall hold forth other Doctrine 7. It is to be believed That neither of the two former Commissions was to understand what God in his Form and Nature was in the Creation as this our Commission doth 8. It is to be believed That our Commission alone doth understand how this God and Father after intelligence given to Mary by the Angel descended from heaven as swift as thought into the womb of Mary and there dissolved his immortal body into seed and from thence quickned himself into a mortal body of flesh blood and bone so called a Son 9. It is to be believed That the Eternal Father now become a Son had the Supreme power within him that quickned his Godhead being perfectly dead in the grave to life again without the help of either Father God or Spirit without him whatsoever 10. It is to be believed That the Prophet Elias in his transmutation that nature of faith in him became a chariot of fire so struck out the gross Elements viz. Water Earth and Aire and in that fiery faith of his own ascended to glory to represent the Person of God while he took his journey in the flesh 11. Also it is to be believed That our Commission alone in the Revelation thereof hath the true knowledge of these things as also what the form and nature of the Angels are of what they were created and wherefore created and what was the cause of the Angelical fall above the rest and why and wherefore he was cast into this world in the presence of Adam and Eve 12. It is to be believed that never any but our Commission knew that it was that said Angel that in his whole form entred the womb of Eve and there dissolved into Seed and conceived into flesh blood and bone by which Eve was deceived so called a Beast Serpent Tree of Knowledge of good and evil that so none of that Seed might understand what it was and how it was Eve was deceived 13. It is to be understood That none but our Commission knows that this dissolution of the Angel in the womb of Eve became Cain the first Devil and Father of all the damned 14. It is to be believed That there never was is or shall be any other Devil but men and women and that for the most part he is the comeliest of all other of that form 15. It is to be believed That none but our Commission knows that the souls of both Faith and Reason are mortal ever since the fall of Adam and shall dye and rot in the grave till the day of Resurrection and that
that there is all manner of other creatures in Heaven besides Angels and Saints as there is here below in the same forms and shapes as they are here in this world If so How are they supported and by what means do they live Faith From my Seed-spring within me I affirm that in the third and highest Heavens the Kingdom of glory there is a perfect earth and that is the Lords foot-stool which earth is immortal glorious upon which there is all manner of Trees Herbs Plants and all manner of four-footed beasts all manner of Fowls also I say there is chrystall Sea in which are all manner of Fishes nay to be short there is nothing here but what is there though this is to be understood as these are mortal those are immortal fiery glorious of a bright shining nature sutable for such a Majesty to solace himself withall as also his Saints and Angels also there is Thrones varieties of Glory with such Heavenly glorious Trumpetting voices from the Divine mouth of Saints and Angels that the Glory of Eternity doth ring again with such a sweet Divine Harmony that the enjoyment thereof is unutterable and the more they daily encrease with new joyes of ravishing praises and delights after all their tedious sufferings and that without end Oh! the Eternity the Eternity is that which makes it incomparable delightful otherwise the Kingdom of Glory above would little transcend the glory here were it not Eternal and full of variety of Divine pleasures but in that it is so as I know and believe therefore I cannot but say as touching the third and highest Heavens Oh! the Glory the top of Glory yea ravishing glories without end Reason How dost thou know this and where by Scripture canst thou prove this that there is such variety of immortal creatures there as there are mortal creatures here Faith Although this by Scripture could not be proved yet by Faith it ought to be believed for it is written Faith is the Heb. 11. 1 2. substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen for through Faith we understand the worlds were framed by the Word of God so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear Now if thou couldst understand the truth herein contained then thou wouldst with me conclude that all things that are here seen with thy natural eye were brought forth after the same plat-form of things above which do not here appear so that from my Seed-spring I affirm there is not the variety of things here but there is the same above in the same likeness there in glory as here in shame so that there is all day and no night and that because the fiery glorious person of God being the light thereof in which Kingdom the glorified of the Lord may stand walk talk sit lye flye yea recreate themselveâ— in whatsoever their Divine Souls moves them to and that without the least motion of either pain sorrow or weariness in whatever it is intended to do and that because there is no end of new springing delights and that noâ— fancies of the eye but substantial realities that may be felt and embraced so that I esteem the hardship of this present world not once to be compared to that glory that shall be revealed in my soul and that Eternal without end so as it is written We look not at things which are seen here by the eye of Reason 2 Cor. 4. 17. but at things which cannot be seen but by the eye of Faith In that things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are Eternal therefore Our affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding weight of Eternal Glory CHAP. 11. Shewing what Hell is where it is with the Form and Nature of its torment Reason VVHat is that place called Hell and where is it that the unbelieving souls shall go to at the day of Resurrection Faith Having at large treated about this Particular in a Book of mine entituled Look about you for the Devil that you fear is in you as touching the place of torment as also what Hell is and where it is yet now I shall give thee a discovery of it upon a clearer and higher account that Hell is the body of man and the life spirit or soul therein is the Devil Reason How can Hell be in man When it is written after both Dives and Lazarus was dead and buried the which man being in Hell he lift up his eyes in his torment and seeth Luk. 16. 20. Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom and he cryed and said Father Abraham have mercy on me and send Lazarus that may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue for I am tormented in this flame so â—hat from hence I judge no man is in Hell till after death Faith In the first place thou must know this was a parabolical speech of the Lord of Glory in which the nature of two Seeds viz. Faith and Reason are discovered that is to say Faith representing the poor man Lazarus and Reason representing the person of the rich man Dives not that the rich man was in any Hell without him no more then thou art at this time yet this I know it is a true description of the state and condition of Reason being tormented in a burning flame with the sting of their own Conscience and that not onely as in relation to the various doubts and fears that attends themselves but on the contrary the assurance that believers enjoyes in this his present being for this I know that those who are true heirs of Abraham according to Faith are in his bosom that is in the same peace and perfect assurance as Abraham was for this I know that Abrahams Soul is rotted with his body in the grave and can neither see hear speak move or go no more the rich Devils of this world can till the day of Resurrection from my Seed-spring I declare that the Souls of Righteous or Wicked goes neither to Heaven nor Hell but both lyes uncapable of either joy or sorrow in silent dust as at large is handled in the ninth Chapter And whereas thou sayest there is none in hell till after death I say thou believes thou knows not what for there is not onely thou but many of thy Seed are now in Hell tormented that they cry unto the Seed of Abraham to know what shall become of them in this their flame crying out they are damned they are damned wishing Oh! that I had but one drop of that ever-living water to quench my flame that runs as a Well-spring in the Souls of the Seed of Faith by which they are freed from this unspeakable torment that notwithstanding all thy riches and wisdom thy seed or generation are pluâ—ged in Reason However thou would perswade me that there is no hell without man what then dost thou
are born of women there hath not risen a greater then John the Baptist and yet thou and thy â—eachers will not believe unless present vengeance fall upon thee But know this though the Pharisees desired a sign from Christ and Mat. 12. 38. none would be given them but the sign of the Prophet Jonas yet know this he was Christ the Eternal God for all that and though Christ rebuked James and John in the saying Luke 9. â—4 Lord wilt thou that we command fire from Heaven and consume them even as Elias did yet they were not for the future freed from the Eternal fire in their souls So let me tell thee and yet not I but the Revelation of the Holy Spirit within me though not presently yet it shall flame within thee as fire from Heaven and that without end till it consume all thy hopes of salvation and thou shalt know and finde that this sentence of thine shall shut the Heavens and it shall rain no more showers of mercy or comfort in thy soul so that I say though thou finde it not presently thou shalt as surely feel it after death as Christ is God the Eternal Father And what if miracles did belong to our Commission as they do not in that ours is the Commission of the Spirit so our sentence spiritual thou wouldst no more believe then thou dost now but rather call us Conjureâ—s unless the tenor of our Commission was as the two former to execute present vengeance and if it were executed once or twice and not upon every occasion thou wouldst be as much seared up in unbelief as thou art now Reason If thy Commission were as real truth as Moses and the Apostles and such a power did attend thine as was in theirs then I should as truly believe in yours as now I do in them Faith Ah blinde Soul thou dost not know what is truth and what not for if thou didst thou wouldst as really believe in me as in them But from my Seedspring I tell thee That thou nor none of thy Seed do really believe that the Scripture is a true Record of the Transactions of Christ thou mayest talk of it and preach from it but if thou wert really perswaded in thy own soul of the truth therein contained then thou wouldst believe in us for the Apostles writ of us as Moses and the Prophets writ of Christ to come and therefore if thou didst believe in them that have nothing but a dead letter to prove them Commissioners surely then thou wouldst believe in us that are living and know this if the Roman Authority had not established Moses and the Apostles Writings for Scripture then it had been believed no more then ours for thy Fathers in the days of their lives notwithstanding their miracles did no more believe in them then thou dost in us and know this the same power that attended them upon externals doth belong to our Commission in spirituals and therefore as the Apostle had power in his Commission to curse either Angel or man that did preach any other Doctrine so we have the same power in ours Reason What then doth not their Commission belong to us in these days successively as it did to them what then is the meaning of those Scriptures where it is writ The Scriptures aforetime are written for our learning and again it is writ Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded Mat. 28. 20. you and loe I am with you always unto the end of the world Faith From the Lord of Glory I tell thee That neither of those Commissions do belong to thee or any of thy Seed either by succession or otherwise for from my Seed of Faith I declare That the Scripture was never written for the learning of any of thy Seed though none living now present do make it a more Idol for their own gain then thy Seed doth Though I have sufficiently proved this point in the Quakers Downfal yet from my well-spring within me I tell thee That as the Scripture was written by the revelation or inspiration of Faith so I know it was writ for the use of none but the Believers of that Faith which neither thou nor none of thy Seed are partakers of For as Paul the great Commissioner was the Penman of those sayings so that Scripture that he spake of was the writings of the first Commission viz. Moses and the Prophets which were written before his time and so for the learning of him and all that believed in his Doctrine for our learning that are of the Seed of Faith and for none of the Seed of Reason whatsoever but for our learning The word Plural includes all the Seed of Faith with him were the Scriptures written so the Commissions of Moses and the Apostles were not written for the use of any of the seven Churches but our Commission alone for as none understood the Commission of Moses and the Prophets but the Apostles so none now living understand either of the two former Commissions but this our spiritual Commission now in being and therefore from my Seedspring I tell thee We onely are the Judges of the Scripture whatsoever Reason thy cursed Seed pretend to the contrary as now thou shalt hear an infallible Exposition of the other Scripture which thou hast quoted which all besides our Commission gives a false definition thereof Go ye therefore and teach all Mâ—t 23. â—0 Nations baptizing them in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and loe I am with you always even unto the end of the world Now from hence all the seven Churches of thy Seed viz. Papist Episcopal Presbyterian Independent Baptist Ranter and Quaker do suppose that the extent of these words are in force to the end of this world and therefore the Baptists have assumed the Apostles Commission as their own when as if ye were not stone blinde you may read as ye run that this Commission was given to the twelve then living and not to Kiffin and Patience or any other Teacher of the Baptists whatsoever for ye were not born many hundred years after when this command was expressed And loe I am with you always even unto the end of the world with you my beloved Disciples and none other Reason I cannot conceive from this Scripture but there was to be a continuance of the Apostles Commission to the end of this World and though there was none of the Commissioners left to give or invest the same power by imposition of hands yet we having the same Spirit of God in us although not in the same measure yet may we not lawfully follow them as our patern and as the Apostle exhorts Brethren be followers Phil. 3. 17. together of me and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample othervvise vvhat should all the World have done to have knovvn God or
it is finished bringeth forth death Novv Jam. 1. 15. vvhile thy lust is a tempting there comes a good motion and frustrates that temptation by vvhich means that thou hadst intended is not conceived so no sin indeed lust vvas burning in thy heart but in that it came not to perfection the lavv hath quenched the flame for vvhat hath the Lavv to do vvith a heart-adultery no no it is no thought but an act that breaks the Law and what comes not within the bounds of the Lavv be it adultery nay be it murther if it lie onely in the heart and be not acted there can no Lavv condemn thee Reason What is thy thoughts as touching the fourth Commandment as being changed from Saturday to Sunday and vvhat is the reason why this Command vvas changed above all the rest and vvhetheâ— this Sabbath called The first day of the week is not according to the judgement of the Assembly of Divines to continue to the end of the World vvithout any alteration thereof Faith It matters not me vvhat grounds or principles of Religion your Assembly of Divines holds forth as a Catechiâ—m to thy Seed for this by Faith I knovv and against men and Angels affirm That as the Commission of Moses ended in the Commission of the Apostles so the Jevvish Sabbath vvith the rites thereof ended in the Sabbath or first day of the vveek of the Apostles then knovv as the Commission of the Apostles ends in ours so vve have povver as the Apostles to erect you a Sabbath suitable to our Commission for knovv this that one Commission is not tied in point of Revelation to observe the former but each Commission according to its title and place hath power in it self to direct you what manner of Sabbath you are to keep therefore observe the Sabbath of Moses Commission was in this nature as followeth viz. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy six days shalt thou labour and do all thy work but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God in it thou shalt not do any work thou nor thy son nor thy daughter thy man servant nor thy maid servant nor thy cattel nor thy stranger that is within thy gate for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth the sea and all that in them is and rested the seventh day wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it Now this Sabbath thou wilt not own but the First day or Sabbath of the Apostles which hath no such form in it as the Sabbath of the Jews hath And why the Sabbath of the Jews was altered I tell thee in that Christ the onely God by his own power that day had quickned death into life as it is written In the end of the Sabbath as it began to dawn towards Mat. 28. 1 2. the first day of the week came Mary Magdalen and the other Mary to see the Sepulchre and behold there was an earthquake for the Angel of the Lord descended from Heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sate upon it So this being the first day of Christs Resurrection was a day of joy and gladness to the Apostles in that it brought peace and rest to their souls confirmed in their faith that he was Christ the Son of God Whereupon the Revelation of their faith led them forth to keep the first day of their Saviours Triumph over sin hell and death to be a day set apart to assemble together and contribute their benevolence for the refreshment of the poor members of that faith as it is written And upon the first day of the week when the Disciples Act. 20. 7. came together to break bread Paul preached unto them ready to depart on the morrow and continued his speech until midnight also Vpon the first day of the week let every one of you 1 Cor. 16. 2. lay by him in store as God hath prospered him that there be no gathering when I come Now this Command being a day set apart in point of Worship therefore as the Commission changed so the Worship changed and so of necessity it will follow that the day must be changed Therefore take notice as this Commission was not to hold to the end of the World no more ought that First day for as I said before every Commission hath power in it self in the vertue of its Revelation to change its Worship suitable to its Commission so a Commission hath power to change a day for that Worship Now our Commission being spiritual doth hold forth no manner or forms of Worship but the worshipping of God in Spirit and truth Therefore I say not onely the Jews Sabbath but also the Apostles First day in our Commission are void and of no effect as it is written He spake on a câ—rtain place of Heb. 4. 4. the seventh day on this wise and God did rest the seventh day from all his works So the blessed of the Lord believing Christ to be God the Father Creator of Heaven and earth are entered into the perfect liberty of faith which frees them from the lusts of the flesh and so entered into peace and rest by which not onely the Jews Sabbath nor the Apostles First day but every day is a Sabbath to the Elect of the Lord Now Mat. 12. 1 10. in that the Priests of this World do know that if the first should be as another day then they would lose their hearers and so in conclusion lose their tythes therefore as Christ and the Apostles by the Jews were accused for breaking their Sabbath so the Pharisaical Teachers of thy Seed will condemn us for repealing the First day of the Week But however in the Authority of our Commission I declare That every soul which knoweth Christ in his Form and Nature the Devil in his Form and Nature hath entered unto his eternal Sabbath of perfect rest without end Reason Let me but hear thy judgement as touching that saying of the Lawyer to Christ Master which is the great Commandment in the Law Now Christs answer was That thou shouldst Mat. 22. 36 37 38. love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy minde this is the first and great Commandment Faith And the second is like unto it Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self on these two Commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets Now what manner of love is this with which if we love the Lord and our Neighbour as our self we keep the whole Law but for my part I know not the man that can love his neighbour as himself and so none can truly love God My judgement is That all the ten Commandments are according to the sequel of these words reduced into two heads and these two are comprehended yea fulfilled in this word Love as it is written Owe no man any thing but to Rom. 13. 8 love one another
for he that loveth anâ—ther hath fulfilled the Law And true it is when rightly considered the efficacy of spiritual love it is of so pure and holy a nature that it cannot possibly do any impure or unholy thing when it is moved to manifest it self according to its Divine Property it naturally produceth all Heavenly excellency in the Elect of the Lord Love delights to Lord over none but be servant to all and gives every one preheminence before it self and therefore it truly Honors its Parents Love is so far from envy that instead of killing of any it lieth down at envies feet to be killed of him yea it stayeth envy by its patience and meekness and therefore saith Paul Our weapons are not carnal 2 Cor. 10. 3 4. but spiritual Not a sword of steel but a sword of love Oh! the Revelation of faith teacheth his to flay none but with love nay love is that Divine balsom that it cureth all wounds made by envies weapons Love is so sincere That it will not do that to another that would not another should do to it And therefore it will not commit adultery nor wrong any though it might have many an opportunity to defraud and cozen another it will rather want before it will steal In this love there is no equivocation it will not backbite or stain anothers reputation as it is written Love worketh no Rom. 13. 9. ill to its neighbour and therefore would rather die then bear false witness against either friend or enemy Also this love is generous full of pâ—ty and mercie That it cloathes the naked feeds the hungry visiteth the sick in prison and out of prison Nay this love is so pure that it enjoys it self no longer then it is doing good to others and therefore it will not covet his neighbours house his neighbours wife his mâ—n servant or maid servant his ox or his ass or any thing that is his neighbours so that I tell thee there is none of thy seed but for want of this love breaks the Laws and in some things therein confirms it by authority so that by this I love my neighbor as my self Now my neighbours are the Believers of our Commission that hath faith in our Revelation as it is written Brethren Gal. 5 13. ye have been called unto liberty onely use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh but by love serve one another for all the Law is fulfilled in one word even in this Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self For love is the fruit of the Spirit so that all believers are neighbours and therefore it is vvritten Let brotherly love continue love the brotherhood love as brethren This loving our neighbour as our self is life in death as John saith We know that we have passed from death unto life because 1 John 3. 14. we love our neighbours or our brethren Novv the great Commandment is To love God with all thy heart and with all thy soul Novv if thou canst not love thy neighbour that thou hast seen hovv then canst thou love God thou never savvest For what I have seen and heard I declare unto thee that vvithout knovvledge their can be no love and yet vvhat vain repetitions thy Seed makes to a God ye knovv not As I said before so I say again Though some of thy Seed keeps some of the Commandments nay if possible keep all yet in that thou art ignorant of the true God and so Worship another God thou art guilty of all CHAP. 15. Shewing whether Prayer doth not belong to all and that by Prayer we may come to the knowledge of God and whether it is our duty to make use of the Lords Prayer or no. Reason THou seemest to say in thy last That without the knowledge of God no man can love God and so all that he doth is sin What then shall not a man that is ignorant of God pray unto God for knowledge of him otherwise how shall a soul love God and to that end there are many Exhortations Mat. 6. 9 to prayer and that especially the Lords prayer which there we are taught the form and manner thereof as it is written Our Father which art in Heaven hallowed be thy name thy Kingdom come thy will be done in earth Luk. 11. 2. as it is in Heaven Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the Kingdom the Power and the Glory for ever Amen As I have said before concerning the Sabbath That every Commission in its time and place is to be considered That according to their Revelation so was their Worship but I know the Revelation of the Apostles led them forth to prayer and therefore in their Commission it was requisite and their duty so to do Also the form of these words was directed to the Disciples but none of thy Seed whatsoever for I should blaspheme to say That Christ uttered these sayings for the instruction of thy Seed when he saith your Father is the Devil as it is written Ye are of your Father the Devil Joh. 8. 44. and the lust of your Father ye will do so that this Prayer belongs to none but the Disciples After this manner therefore Gal. 4. 6. pray ye yea ye the beloved of the Lord and sons of the Father as it is written Because ye are sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son by which you cry Abba Father Now were this set form to be used in these days as I cannot finde that to them to whom it was spoken never made use of that form after yet I say if it were it onely belongs to sons who are believers of a Commission so that I say it belonged to none but us in that by the Revelation of our faith we know the Father that is in Heaven both in form and nature and none but we and therefore as we are sons and not servants we can with joy and peace of conscience say Our Father which art in Heaven whereas your Seed being but servants and no sons may take shame and confusion of face as for a man of quality to have another mans childe in the market-place ask him blessing and call him Father What would his friends think of him judge thou So your Seed that are bastards and not sons when you come in your publique Worships what a babling you make thinking to be Isa 1. 15. heard for your much speaking when he hears you not nor knows you not neither doth he in the least take notice of your fasts nor your tears they are all vain repetitions of no more account then the barking of a Dog or the wallowing of the Sow in the mire From the Lord I speak it they are not Reason What then must we not pray at all though we use not those form of words Yet I believe as
is the Holy Ghost the Father uncreate the Son uncreate and the Holy Ghost uncreate the Father incomprehensible the Son incomprehensible and the Holy Ghost incomprehensible the Father eternal the Son eternal and the Holy Ghost eternal and yet they are not three eternals but one eternal c. so the Father is God the Son is God and the Holy Ghost is God and yet they are not three Gods but one God c. and so we are to acknowledge every Person by himself to be God and Lord without which no man can be saved Faith Before thou proceed any further let me give answer to what thou hast already declared and the remarkablest confusion therein contained I shall pitch my discourse upon which is Neither confounding the Persons nor dividing the Substance for thou sayest there are three Persons and but one God their glory equal their majestie co-eternal all uncreate all incomprehensible all eternal and yet not three but one eternal Now let the wisest head-peice of thy Seed answer me from these words Whether thou intends the Father is God the Son is God and the Holy Ghost is God as in relation to their Persons or their Natures for let me tell thee if thou believe them as touching their persons then know thou hast divided the Substance as for instance the potter of one substance matter or earth makes three vessels now though these three be of one and the self same substance yet they are divided so not one but really three distinct in each form the one from the other As thus here is three ⊙ ⊙ ⊙ distinct in themselves yet one like another not onely in form but nature also in that they are all of one matter so cannot disagree though three yet let thy Reason work which way it will thou canst not make of these three one ⊙ in which single face or person that intire nature that is unity in trinity must be comprehended and contained in one single person alone onely bearing the name of three titles viz. Father in the Creation the Son in Redemption and the Holy Ghost in Justification Without the true knowledge of what I have said from my Revelation I tell thee thy faith shall perish eternally Reason I acknowledge every Person by himself to be God and Lord and yet I say there are not three Gods and three Lords as thus the Father is made of none neither created nor begotten the Son is of the Father alone not made nor created but begotten the Holy Ghost is of the Father and of the Son neither made nor created nor begotten but proceeding c. and in this Trinity none is afore nor after another none is greater nor less then another but the whole three Persons be co eternal together and co equal So thus the Vnity in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped he therefore that will be saved must thus think of the Trinity Faith O senseless Sot as were thy Teachers so art thou as to imagine that one God should have three Persons which is as unpossible as for a mortal King to have three persons and but one King for this I know though a King by generation may bâ—get a son yet that childe is not a father but a son so not one but two neither is the son equal with the father though the next heir to the Crown But however this by Faith I know the Son was the Father neither made created nor begotten as in the second Chapter is proved at large for this know if Christ was begotten then he was created so made and if begotten tell me who begot him and where and by what means Christ was begotten Reason I know no otherwise but as in the Creed I believe Christ Jesus to be the onely Son of God begotten of his Father before all Worlds God of God Light of Light very God of very God begotten not made being of one substance with the Father by whom all things were made for us and for our salvation came down from Heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary and was made man and was crucified under Pontius Pilate be suffered and was buried and the third day rose again and ascended into Heaven and sitteth on the right hand of the Father and I believe as in the other Creed Christ was God of the Substance of the Father begotten before the Worlds and man of the Substance of his mother â—â—rn in the world perfect God and perfect man of a reasonable soul and humane flesh subsisting equal with the Father as touching his Godhead and inferiour to his Father as touching his Manhood one altogether not by confusion of substance but by unity of person for as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man so God and man is one Christ who shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead which Kingdom shall have no end And I believe in the Holy Ghost the Lord and giver of life which proceedeth from the Father and the Son who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified who spake by the Prophets c. Faith What a knotty gouty thred hath thy Seed spun insomuch that therewith they have woven a web of linsey-woolsey stuff sufficient to cloath the Devil as have but patience and thou shalt hear what confused blasphemy there is in these Creeds held forth to be the Faith of the Church of England without which thou sayest no flesh can be saved That thou mayest for the future take notice of thy ignorance I shall reduce them into three heads and so answer them directly as I shall quote them in their order 1. First Thou believest as thou hast expressed That Christ was God of the substance of the Father begotten before the Worlds and Man of the substance of his mother born in this World If this by thee were rightly understood I should not need Answ to expound them any other then verbatim as they lie but in that I know thou intends the Father as he was a Person got his Son a Person also therefore from the Authority of our Commission I say Thou knowest not how the Father came in being to be God much less then how this Son was begot by the Father for the word Begotten doth imply first the Father begetting 2. The matter conceived 3. The formation of this conception into a person like his Father for this I know no childe can be begotten without a dissolution of seed which seed must first dye before it can quicken to a new life which life will produce a form like its seed now this could not be in the Father didst thou but with me know what the Nature and Person of the Father was before the World That as the Godhead was offered unto death through Heb. 9. 14 the Eternal Spirit So from my Revelation of Faith I say The Eternal Spirit according to its own word and pleasure cloathed it self with a