is the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the World so he made known to me what was Gods will that I should do and what was Gods will that I should not do and also made known in me the unchangeableness of Gods love towards me and so he begot a love in me again to God and so he wrought a willingness in me to do what God hath made known to me to be his will that I should do and hath wrought a willingness in me to leave undone what God would not have me to do and I have known him as he is the true light to be the Word of God which is the seed sown upon all the four grounds which is all men as he is the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the World and I have known the nature of all the four grounds in me and how the light the word the seed hath been sown in me in the nature of all the four grounds and so have I known and experienced how the seed hath been sown in those that never heard of that outward name Jesus born of the Virgin Mary and Crucified at Jerusalem and how they have been saved from sin which is done by the light of the Divine Nature the Word the Seed sown in them causing them to be the good ground It is the word of God which is the power of God that changes the heart and makes it the good ground the same word by which all things were made and thereby causes them to do the things contained in Gods Law writ in their hearts and are become a Law to themselves and have the witness of God in their Consciences accusing them or else excusing them as we have that have heard of that Jesus born of the Virgin Mary and Crucified at Jerusalem And by the doing the things contained in Gods Law and thereby shew the works of Gods Law written in our hearts it is by that that they and we wash our Robes in the Blood of the Lamb that is in the life of Jesus and make them white in his Blood in the innocent life that he lives in us not that we live but he lives in us and worketh in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure and when the will of man is so given up into the will of God for God to be all to will and do all in man as it pleaseth him then mans will is restored to be what it was when God made man in his own Image And God saw every thing that he had made and beheld it was very good Gen. 1. 31. All things that God made was very good and God saw them to be very good and God set his mark of behold upon them to be very good that man might see and behold them to be very good as they were what he had made and gave the being to that is all that God had made was very good as a measure of his being was and is in them whereby they are preserved and upheld and so were and are very good as God that made them is good and is in them Before time was God was and was All in All before subtile Serpent Satan Tempter or Devil was and so God is to be All in All again See 1 Cor. 15. 21 vers to 29 vers For since by man came death by man came also the resurrection of the dead For as in Adam all die even so mark that even so in Christ shall all be made alive But every man in his own order Christ the first fruits afterwards they that are Christs at his coming Then cometh the end when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God even the father when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power For he must reign till he hath put all his enemies under his feet The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death For he hath put all things under his feet but when he saith all things are put under him it is manifested he is excepted which did put all things under him And when all things shall be subdued unto him then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him that God may be all in all When this shall come to pass where then will be the subtile Serpent Satan Tempter or Devil Do they not rule Have they not authority and power Are they not his enemies Where will be subtile Serpent Satan Tempter or Devil when Jesus shall have put down all rule all authority and power for he must reign till he hath put all his enemies under his feet and the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death which is that the subtile Serpent Satan Tempter Devil sin was the cause of death and gave death its being where will they all be then when all Jesus's enemies shall be thus subdued unto him and he as a Son shall be subject to the Father that hath put all things under him that that God who before time was may be all in all That which may be known of God is manifested in men for God hath shewed it unto them for the invisible things of him from the Creation of the World are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal power and Godhead so that they are without excuse Rom. 1. 19 20. By this Scripture it plainly appears that God by his true Light in man that lighteth every man that cometh into the World doth make known in men that which may be known of him Those things that were invisible of him and not known before the Creation he hath made known from the Creation of the World and they are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal power and Godhead Gods eternal power and Godhead which was before the Creation God by his true Light Jesus hath in men made so much of it known unto them as may be known of God being clearly seen and understood by the things that are made God hath shewed it unto them so that all men are without excuse They cannot plead ignorance that God hath not made known himself unto them or that they have not known so much of God as that they might be saved for that which may be known of God is manifested is made known in them for God hath shewed it unto them even his eternal power and Godhead And what is there more to be known of God than is in his eternal power and Godhead In that he hath made known his eternal power and Godhead to all men God hath thereby shewn his love to all men John 3. 16. vers to the 21 vers That God so loved the world that he gave his onely begotten Son that whosoever believed in him should not perish but have everlasting life whosoever God makes no exception For God sent his Son not to condemn the world but that the world through him might
the garden that is as man in his own apprehensions looked upon God to be like himself that is as he had changed himself in his obedience to God so man in that false sight that he then had of God looked upon God that he had changed his love to him and so man beheld himself as sent or drove from the presence of God and turned out of the garden out of Gods love and delight that he had in man And the reason why man so looked upon God to have no love nor delight in him in his fallen state was because man in his disobedience he found no love nor delight that he had in himself towards God and so he judged God to be changed towards him as he had changed himself towards God when in truth the change was onely in man And so man may be said to send drive or turn himself out of the Garden where man in the fallen state is and so do continue out of the Garden until there is a change wrought in the heart of man by being brought to a knowledge of God's unchangeableness that although man by his disobedience turned enemy to God yet love continued in God towards man God so loved the world God's love was so great to man too great for the tongue of man to express or the heart of man to conceive of that he gave his onely begotten son that whosoever believed in him should not perish but have everlasting life Joh. 3. 16. And God commended his love towards us that while we were sinners Christ died for us When we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his son Rom. 5. 8. 10. These Scriptures shew the unchangeableness of God's love to man which until man comes in some measure or degree to be made sensible of the unchangeableness of God's love the fear of God's justice for sin continues in the heart of man and man continues out of the Garden and a true love to God is wanting in the heart of man But when that Change is wrought in the heart that we love God because he first loved us then man cometh again into the Garden and man obeys God because God hath made known his love to him and therefore he loves God again and then the heart or inward part in man is pleasing and delightful to God man's delight is to obey God 1 John 4. 18 19. There is no fear in love but perfect love casteth out fear because fear hath torment he that feareth is not made perfect in love We love him because he first loved us Here is the true state of man in the Fall and of his being restored again When man by his transgression had lost his love to God then the fear of God entered into his heart and that caused or brought forth torment and as long as fear continued in mans heart mans love is not made perfect to God and mans love is made perfect to God by our loving of him because he first loved us and then mans heart or the inward part in man cometh again to be as a pleasant and delightful Garden The Tree of knowledge of good and evil as in the mystery God made man and as a gift God gave to man the knowledge of himself that he was his God And God also gave to man the knowledge of his revealed will that what God had commanded man to do was God's will that he should do and what God had made known of himself in man and what was God's revealed will in man that he should do in obedience to him was good and so God gave to man the knowledge of what was good And God gave also to man the knowledge of his revealed will of what God had commanded him not to do and what was Gods revealed will in man that God had commanded man not to do that was evil and so God gave to man the knowledge of what was evil And this was in mans heart or the inward part of man which in the mystery was God's Garden And this knowledge of good and evil in the mystery is a Tree remaining in the Garden in the heart or inward part of man and in this knowledge of what was good and what was evil man for a time stood in his obedience to God obeying God in the doing all that he had commanded him to do and obeying God in the leaving undone all that he had forbidden him to do And while man in this his knowledge stood thus in obedience to God in doing all that God had commanded him to do and in leaving undone all that God had commanded him not to do man knew no will in him of his own but mans will was wholly resigned up into Gods will man willed nothing but what God willed in him and what God willed in man that man willed in God and man knew no other will but the will of God and so God was all and in all man And man was the Paradise the delight of God and God was the Paradise the delight of man And out of the ground that the Lord God had made man of the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food the tree of life also in the midst of the garden and the tree of knowledge of good and evil Gen. 2. 7. 9. The Tree of Life is Jesus the Light of God in man and this Tree was also in the midst of the garden the garden is the heart or inward part of man which the Lord God planted Eastward which is the place of the rising of the Sun which is as much as to say God so placed the heart or inward part in man his garden that it should be in the place wherein the rising of his Son Jesus the true Light in man did rise and as a Tree there to grow and be in the midst of his garden and the Tree of knowledge of good and evil I pray observe the words of the Scripture The tree of life also in the midst of the garden and the tree of knowledge of good and evil See how near the Tree of knowledge of good and evil is placed to the Tree of life there is but and between them and that and makes them two Trees and so indeed they are The Tree of Life is one which is Jesus the true Light of God in man and the Tree of knowledge of good and evil is another and they are so near joyned together that there is but an and that parts them Jesus the Word of God the true Light in man gave man the knowledge of what was Gods will that he should do and that was good man was to do good and the same Jesus the Word of God in man gave man the knowledge of what he should not do and that was evil man was not to do evil And these two Trees were very nearly joyned together in Gods garden in the heart of man and so a measure of
the first being to sin in man which was love in the will and in the desire of man And although we read of many that heard John preach Repentance and came to his Baptism as did Jerusalem and Judea and the Regions round about Jordan many Pharisees and Scribes were baptised of him confessing their sins Mat. 3. yet few of them came to the end of his preaching to know the Ax laid to the root of the Tree to know the love and desire to sin in the heart to be hewn down and cast into the fire to be consumed And this John told them must be in the Baptism of Jesus which his Baptism was a forerunner of which was to baptise with the Holy Ghost and with fire In Jesus's Baptism in the Baptism that saves from sin they were to know the fire of the Holy Ghost to burn and consume the love and desire to sin in them That whereas there was a time in which they had in them a love and a desire to commit sin but dare not commit sin for fear of the punishment that they knew was justly due to them for their sins but if they could have escaped the punishment they would willingly have pleased themselves in the sins And here the Serpent self deceived them they thought there was an enmity in them against sin because they were afraid to commit sin when the enmity was not against sin but against the punishment for sin And so indeed and in truth the enmity that they thought was in them against sin it was in them against God that is against the justice of God and sin in the root sin in the love and the desire to it was alive and sin and they in union and thus the subtile Serpents self and their own wills deceive them under a form of godliness But when they are come to the end of Johns Preaching and Baptism and know what it is to have the axe laid to the root of the tree of sin to the love of sin and to know the hewing down and burning up of the love and desire to sin in them so as if there were no punishment for sin yet would they not sin And why would they not sin it is because of the manifestations or making known of the love of God that is shed abroad in the heart God having made known the freeness of his love to them without any desert from them that while they were sinners and so enemies to God there was love in God to them and he sent his Son to die to reconcile them to himself This begets a love in them to God we love him because he first loved us and now the enmity is not against the punishment as it was when what we did in obedience to God was because we were afraid of Hell if we disobeyed him but the enmity is now against the sin as it offends that God that hath bestowed the riches of his Love upon them And now the Creature if it be drawn aside by the temptations of his own hearts lusts if the Serpent bruise the heel of the seed of the Woman in it as God hath said it should how does it mourn for its offence not because it knows that God as a loving Father will chastize it for its offence it does well know that God will not let offences pass in his Children unchastized but their grief and sorrow is because it hath offended God his loving Father And as to the chastisements of God although in themselves they are tedious but as they come from a loving Father and are for their good so they are pleasing to them as God makes use of them to the bringing forth of the peaceable fruit of Righteousness in them This was Davids case Psal 119. 67. Before he was afflicted he went astray but now he had kept his word and hence is a change wrought in the heart now the sorrow and grief that is in it because sin is committed is not because it is afraid of the punishment as once it was but the sorrow and grief is because a loving God a loving Father is offended by its breaking of his Commands And this change in the heart is wrought by the joyning together the two seeds if I may so call them the seed of God the power of God in man and the seed of God the power of God without man and from hence cometh the Child Jesus that saves from sin in the bearing of which the woman was saved That in man that was deceived and in the transgression is again saved here cometh the restauration of man man being restored again into the Image of love to God that he lost in the fall and into that Image of holiness in obeying God that he lost in the fall and now there is a change wrought in the will man being brought to will what God will and that because it is Gods will and now he does not do Gods will because he knows that if he does it not he shall be punished for his transgressions as once he did when that which put him upon his obedience to God in what he knew to be Gods will that he should do it was that by the doing thereof he might escape that punishment that he knew would be due to him if he did not do Gods will but now there is such a change that if there were no punishment for the transgression yet there is a willingness in him to do Gods will and that because of the love that God hath manifested and made known to him that God loved him when there was an enmity in his heart against God yet God loved him and sent his Son to die to reconcile him to God Rom. 5. 8 9 10. And this begot such a love in the heart to God as that it so changes the will that its desire is not to do its own will but Gods will onely and it is afraid lest its own will that he is so much sensible of that hath so much deceived him should get into the doing of what he is so carried forth to do in obedience to God and so deceive him and bring him again into the transgression that he is afraid of his own will as of a deadly Serpent this is known in some measure degree or other where the Child Jesus is born and the Woman saved out of the transgression they do know the work of the onely begotten Son of God in them and not only to restore that in them that Adam lost in the fall but to preserve and keep them from falling by the temptation as Adam did they knew that in them that the Serpent cannot tempt so as to cause it to sin nor never did nor never will yield to the temptation and that they are not onely the created Sons of God but the begotten Sons of God 1 Pet. 1. 3 23. and that it is that begotten Son of God in them that keeps them from falling by the temptation Herod heard John
be saved Gods end in sending his Son was not to condemn any one but to save all He that believeth on him is not condemned all those are saved that believe on him but he that believeth not is condemned already all those that do not believe on the begotten Son of God the true Light they are already condemned that is presently while they are in that state of unbelief All men as they have sinned are as they are in the state of sin under the sentance of condemnation but Gods love is such to man in general that he hath sent his onely begotten Son to take off that sentance of condemnation that whosoever did believe in him should not be condemned God grants to them that believe in his Son to speak after the manner of men a Pardon and so the sentence of condemnation is taken off from them and they are as if they had never been condemned but all those that do not believe in his Son they remain under that sentence of condemnation and so are condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the onely begotten Son of God The cause why all men are condemned is because they do not believe in the Name of the onely begotten Son of God As the name of a King signifies the power of the King so the Name of the onely begotten Son of God signifies the power of the onely begotten Son of God They do not believe in his power who is the true Light in them that makes known in them and shews unto them what may be known of God They do not believe that this Light hath power to save them or that there is a sufficient power in this Light that if they should yield obedience to it to save them And this is the condemnation that light is come into the world Light is come into the world into that world Man that God so loved that he gave his onely begotten Son that whosoever of that world Man believed in him should not perish but have everlasting life God hath by his true Light made known his love in them and their condemnation is not because they did not know God or for want of Gods making known his love to them or for want of Gods making known so much of God to them as may be known of God but it is because Light is come into the world Man come into them and men love darkness rather than light is because their deeds are evil For every one that doth evil hateth the light evil doers hate the Light hate Jesus the onely begotten Son of God whom God in his love hath sent to save them neither cometh to the light they will not come to Jesus the onely begotten Son of God the true Light that lighteth them that makes known in them and shew unto them what may be known of God to the end that they may be saved by believing in his Name by believing in his power but they will not come to him the true Light the power of God to salvation to be saved by him lest their evil deeds should be reproved or discovered They so love their evil deeds that rather than they will have them reproved or discovered so as to be brought to a leaving or forsaking of them They will not come to the Light to be saved by the Light that is to be saved by the onely begotten Son of God But he that doth truth cometh to the light that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God This is that which maketh the difference in men God makes known himself in all that which is to be known of God even his eternal power and Godhead Gods makes known in all he hath shewed it unto them and so they are without excuse His love is to all he gave his Son that whosoever none excepted that did believe in him should not perish He did not send his Son to condemn the world Man but to save the world Man and those that believe in him are not condemned but are saved from the condemnation and those that believe not are already condemned they are now in the state of condemnation And it is because they have not believed on him the condemnation is because Light is come into the World come into them and they believe not in it but they love darkness the works of darkness evil deeds better than they love the Light And instead of loving the Light that makes known evil deeds in them they hate the Light because it discovers lays open and makes their evil deeds known and reproves them for evil deeds and therefore they will not come to the Light but hate it The Light in them calls them to come and believe in it but they will not come and believe in it And why will they not come and believe in it It is because they love their evil deeds and that causes them to hate the Light but he that doth truth that is he that in sincerity and integrity of his heart doth the things that God hath made known in him to be his will that he should obey him in he cometh to the Light And why doth he that doth truth come to the Light It is that his deeds his works may be made known made manifest that they are wrought in God He that doth truth he that truly yields obedience to God according to what he knows of God his hearts desire is to bring all his actions and deeds to Jesus the true Light of God in him that thereby they may be made known made manifest made truly known in him and to him that they are the works of God wrought in him that is the great thing desired by him that doth the truth to know that all that is done in him is done by Jesus the truth in him So that the difference that is made in men is of their own making Gods love is general to all he sent his Son to save all that would believe in him he hath made known his love in all That which may be known of God is manifest in them God he hath shewed it unto them they are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal power and Godhead so that they are without excuse But some love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil and therefore they will not come to the light but are haters of the light Because that when they knew God they glorified him not as God nor were they thankful to God for what God had made known of himself to them but became vain in their imaginations Even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things that are not convenient Rom. 1. 21 28. I pray mark the words of the Scripture Even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge which knowledge they once had that God had given to them of himself
love that God hath shewed to man in making of him in his likeness and Image yet man proved so unworthy and rebellious to this God that manifested and made known so much love to him as that he rebelled against this God and as I may say to speak after the manner of men proved a Traytor to this God that had manifested and made known so much love to him For whereas God in the Creation as man was made in his Image God ruled in man and over man and mans will was resigned and given up into the will of God But man like a Traytor set up his own will and preferred that above and before the will of God in him and put the government of himself under his own will to be ruled by his own will where all men in the fallen state now are and while this will bears the rule over them they will not come to Jesus the true Light in them that they may have life John 5. 40. And although man in his Treachery and Rebellion lost his love to God and became an enemy to God yet God as unchangeable he continued his love to man and his love was then so great to man when man was in his Rebellion against God and an enemy to God that he gave his onely begotten Son that whosoever believed in him should not perish but have everlasting life John 3. 16. And God commended his love towards us that while we were yet sinners and enemies to God Christ died for us Rom. 5. 8. And God hath sent his Ambassadours to beseech and pray you to be reconciled to God 2 Cor. 5. 20. And what shall not the unchangeableness of Gods Love to us and the willingness that is in God that we should be reconciled to him and not to perish shall not this work upon us to be willing to resign and give up our wills into Gods will when there can be no reconciliation made between God and lost man but by mans being willing to resign and give up his will into the will of God That is the partition-wall that must be taken down that which at first made the separation between God and man It was man went out of the doing of Gods will into the doing of his own will and to reconcile man again to God there must be a going out of mans will into Gods will again And is not this very reasonable that man should resign and give up his will into the will of God being Gods love is so unchangeable to man As that when man had no true love in him to God but was Gods enemy yet then Gods love was such to man as to give his Son his beloved Son to keep man from perishing and that man by his love of God might have everlasting life and therefore can there be any thing more reasonable than this That man should resign and give up his will into the will of God And further if the consideration of Gods love to man in his Creation and the unchangeableness of his love to man when man was turned Gods enemy and Gods willingness to have man to be reconciled unto him if this will not prevail with man to be willing to have his will resigned and given up into the will of God let man consider the absolute necessity that there is as on mans part to have his will resigned and given up into Gods will for if mans will be not resigned and given up into Gods will man perishes for ever There can be no reconciling of God and man together without mans will being resigned and given up into the will of God for although indeed God is unchangeable in himself and so is a God of love and so there is love in God to man his Creature yet also God in himself is a God of Justice executing of his Justice to all and upon all that stand it out in Rebellion against him which all men do while in their wills they oppose Gods will And let men flatter themselves what they will with the unchangeableness of Gods love to man and so have thoughts that God loves them yet until there is a willingness in them to have their wills resigned and given up into the will of God I know by experience that these thoughts of theirs of Gods loving of them is changeable in them and sometimes they may have thoughts in them that God loves them and at other times they are afraid of Gods Justice and Judgments to fall upon them for their sins and transgressions And to be made free from the manifestations or making known of Gods Justice and Judgments for sin in us and to us is to have our wills resigned and given up into the will of God and then we may say with Paul Rom. 7. For that which I do I allow not for what I would that I do not but what I hate that I do If then I do that which I would not I consent unto the law that it is good now then it is no more I that do it but sin that dwelleth in me And as the will comes to be resigned and given up into the will of God so there is a knowing that there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus to them whose wills are resigned and given up into the will of God as their Father as was the will of Christ Jesus and there is no being in Christ Jesus unless in some measure degree or other the will be resigned and given up to God as a Father as was the will of Christ Jesus And as their wills are resigned and given up into the will of God so they walk not after the flesh they walk not after their fleshly wills they follow not their fleshly wills but they walk after the spirit they follow after the spirit of Christ Jesus the true light in them that teacheth them to resign and give up their wills into the will of God and those who are not thus in Christ Jesus who have not their wills resigned and given up into the will of God as Christ Jesus will was they are still in the state of condemnation because they walk after the flesh their own wills and although at sometimes they may have some hopes or apprehensions of Gods love towards them yet it is not lasting in them it fails them when they stand in most need of it that is it fails them when God is making known in them and to them his Justice and Judgments due to them for their sins Then they cannot apprehend any love in God to them but they are afraid of God for then they cannot say as Paul said that what I would I do not but what I hate that I do and then that it was no more I that did it but sin that dwelleth in me They cannot speak after that manner but instead thereof the
the Will of this infinite loving God to be ruled guided and governed by the Will of this loving God And this great loving God is willing to do it for him and in him to speak after the manner of men without putting him to any charge or trouble in bringing the work to pass and that freely if man would not in his Will oppose and hinder God in this his great work And what will man whom God hath endued with more Reason than he hath all the Creatures upon the Earth will he be so ruinous and destructive to himself as not to be willing to resigne and give up his Will into the Will of God to be ruled guided and governed by the Will of God made known in him and to him and that when this great infinite and unchangeable loving God is willing to do that great work in him of working up of mans Will into the Will of God if man would not oppose him in this his great work And therefore may it not well be said of man that his destruction is of himself And lastly I desire man to consider that if he will not be perswaded by the making known of the unchangeableness of Gods love to him by Jesus the Son of God the true Light in him to have his will to be resigned and given up into the will of God and by Gods willingness to do this great work in him yet at length Gods will shall and will be done and man in and by his will cannot nor shall not hinder Gods will from being done Do we not see it by daily experience how God makes void and brings to nought the purposes that man in his will determines to bring to pass yea the purposes and determinations of the great men upon the Earth made in their wills how in their wills they can go no further nor do no more than God in his will of sufferance suffers them so to do And come to more inferiour men of all sorts and degrees how they in their wills purpose and appoint the doing of this or that thing and how by God their purposes and appointments are made void and come to nothing and cannot in any of them go or do the least beyond the will of Gods sufferance to suffer them to go or do Neither can men in their wills by all the means that they can use keep or hinder from falling upon them or from falling upon any thing that they call theirs or hinder the coming upon them or upon any thing that they call theirs any thing whatsoever that God in his will intends and purposes shall fall upon them or theirs or any thing that shall come upon them or upon what they call theirs And although man for a time may hinder Gods will that is Gods declared will that man should obey God in this will of God man may by his disobedience hinder from being done in him yet at length Gods will will be done in them whether man will or no that is Gods will in Gods administration of his Justice and true Judgment in man for his disobedience against God And that man by all the ways and means that man in his will can use he cannot nor shall not hinder that will of God from being done in him And therefore according to true Reason as God hath made man a reasonable Creature above all the Creatures upon the Earth what madness and folly is it for man to stand in his own will and not to become willing by the power of Jesus the true Light in him to resigne and give up his will into the will of God and take up his Cross to his own will and to be a Disciple a Follower a Learner of Jesus in him who is in him to that very end to save him from sin and to reconcile him to God All that is required for man to do in the resigning and giving up of his will into Gods will is but to be as the Meal is to the Leaven not to oppose God in his work in man as the Meal does not oppose or hinder the working of the Leaven So man in his will is not to oppose or hinder God in his work in him in the making known his love in man and to man and thereby to work a love in man to God again and to work out of man that love that is in man to his own understanding and knowledge to his own desire love and affection and to his own will for as man by the spirit of Jesus in him receives and takes in the love of God unto him not as a righteous person as if he deserved love at Gods hands but as a sinner an enemy to God and so as that there is no desert in him that God should shew any love to him but as to desert in him his desert it is to have Gods Justice and Judgment to fall upon him for his sins Jesus calls not the righteous but sinners to repentance and man does not repent of the love that he hath to sin but as he comes to apprehend love in God to him as a sinner man may for fear of Gods Justice repent of the actions of sin but not of the love he hath to sin And in this state and condition for man to be brought to apprehend love in God to him as a sinner as an enemy to God although God does not love sin in man yet God loves man as his Creature And this love in God begets a love in man to God and from that love that is begotten by God in man to God for it is God that begets the love in man to himself and by that love man comes to obey God because God first loved him And then man according to that measure or degree of love that is begot in him by God he becomes a nothing in himself that God may be all and do all in him And then is man as the Meal not opposing the working of the Leaven of Gods love in him bringing him to love God again And so man then does all that he does in obedience to God becaâ—â—â— God first loved him And this is the true denying of self of all sâ—lf and taking up the Cross and following of Jesus that saves from â—in I have read in the 1 Kings 13. that there came a man of God out of Judath and by the Word of the Lord to Bethel and he cryed against the Altar in the Word of the Lord and â—y the Word of the Lord he was charged to eat no bread nor drink no water in that place nor to turn back again by the way he wâ—nt But an old Prophet that dwelt in Bethel went after the man of God and said to him Come home with me and eat bread And the man of God said to him I may not return with thee nor go in with thee neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place For it was said to me by the word of the
and what the Lord said to Satan of Job and wha Satan said to the Lord concerning Job and the leave that the Lord gave Satan to try Jobs Integrity and how Satan tryed Job I have also read that the Lord said to Simon Simon behold Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not and when thou art converted strengthen thy brethren And of Peters Confidence not to deny Jesus and how he was prevailed with to deny Jesus and of his repenting And I have likewise read of Jesus being led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil and when the Tempter came to him what he said to Jesus what answers Jesus gave the Tempter and Devil and by my reading of them and remembring what I had read I could speak and discourse of them but I knew little of them in comparison of what I did then speak of them nor do I now know any thing of them but what by experience I hear of them spoken within me and have seen with the inward eye and have looked upon within me as a measure of them have been acted done or wrought within me and I do believe it to be unlawful for me now to speak or declare more of them than what by experience I have seen and heard of them within me and so much I may speak and declare and no more And if it be objected to me If thou mayst speak or declare no more than what by experience thou hast within thee heard and seen then how hast thou heard and seen within thee That Jesus is a light to all and a Saviour to some that have not heard of an outward Jesus born of the Virgin Mary and crucified at Jerusalem To that I answer I was once without the true knowledge of that Jesus born of the Virgin Mary and Crucified at Jerusalem although from my being a Child I was brought up to read the Scriptures that make mention of such a Jesus and I was taught by my Parents to say that I believed there was such a Jesus and yet I do now know that I did not then when I read of such a Jesus in the Scriptures and said I believed in such a Jesus I did not then know that there was such a Jesus I was onely learned to say so but I knew it not and what was I then better than those that never heard of the name of such a Jesus when I onely heard of the name but knew not what he was that is I knew not what he was as he was sent of God to save from sin And all that profess themselves Christians and know any thing of the work of God in their hearts will own that the knowing by reading or here-say of such a Jesus born of the Virgin Mary and so growing up to be a man and Crucified at Jerusalem and know no more of him that this knowledge of him does them no good as to their Salvation and what are they then the better for their hearing or reading of the Name of such a Jesus are they any thing better than those that never heard of that Name But that knowledge of Jesus that does them good to their Salvation is the knowing of him to be a Jesus that is a Saviour that saves from sin that knowing of him is that which is onely good and profitable to their Salvation and not the hearing or knowing of an outward name of Jesus I knowing and having experience of this within me to be true that it is not the hearing and knowing of the outward Name Jesus that does man any good to his Salvation but it is the knowing him to be Jesus a Saviour from sin that does man good to Salvation and thereby I know and have experienced that God may save some that have not heard of an outward Jesus born of the Virgin Mary and Crucified at Jerusalem and the way how he saves them is by saving them from their sins before I know a saving from sin I know nothing of Jesus but onely as I had heard or read of the Name Jesus but of the nature of Jesus as he is a Saviour sent of God I was as ignorant as those that never heard of the name Jesus I onely knew the Name as it was written in these letters JESVS but the nature of Jesus as he is a Saviour I knew not I did not know him as he is the great power of God to Salvation the onely begotten son of Gods Love the true Light which makes known to man the unchangeable being of Gods Love to the World MAN that whosoever believed in him the onely begotten Son of God the true Light that is whosoever so believed the true Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the World so that none are without this Light they that so believe in this true Light that tells them this is good and what they ought to do and this is evil which they ought not to do and yield obedience to God according to what this true Light the onely begotten Son of God in them makes known to them to be Gods will that they should do or that they should leave undone These that so yield an obedience to the light in them in doing the good that this Light makes known in them they ought to do and in leaving undone the evil that this Light makes known to them that they should not do these are they that Gods love is so to in his begotten Son as that they shall not perish but have everlasting life and this believing the true Light Jesus the onely begotten Son of God and yielding obedience thereunto is not wrought in them by the reading or hearing of a Name Jesus that a man had that was born of the Virgin Mary and Crucified at Jerusalem and that knowledge that we have by reading the Scriptures and hearing the name Jesus preached that is all the knowledge that we now can have more than those that never heard of that Name and of that Man But that which give us the true knowledge of that Name and what that Man was before that Body had a being upon the Earth and what it was when it had a being upon the Earth and what it is now it hath no being upon the Earth I say that which gives us the true knowledge of what that man Jesus was before he had a body upon the Earth and what he was in that body upon the Earth and what he is now that body is taken from the Earth That which gives us the true knowledge of what he was and now is it is the true Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the World and so he is a light and the true light in those that never heard of that Name and of that Man as he is the same true light in us that hath heard of that Name and of that Man And as he
be in Jesus when he prayed saying O my Father if it be possible let this cup pass from me nevertheless not as I will but as thou wilt And that will in Jesus that as man would have had the cup to be taken from him that will abode not the battel in him but flee'd and was vanquished was overcome and the Fathers will was done And so it will be with us and in us if we will with the Light of Jesus in us that light that is in us and it is so in us that it would save us from sin save us from the doing of our own wills if we would by the help and assistance of the power of that Jesus the Light in us resist the temptations of the will and abide in the power of that Light Jesus believe in his Name believe in that power which is the love of God to us it is the Gospel of God the good tidings of God the power of God to Salvation which is made known in us If we will believe in the name of this Jesus the true Light believe in the power of the Light in us that that Light that power of God that Gospel that making known of Gods love to us and in us that it is that and that onely that is able to save us is able to keep us to salvation and so by it to be saved from the temptations of our own wills This will save us from the temptations of our own wills and so save us from the condemnation that is due to us for our sins which we commit in yielding to our own wills The believing in the name of the onely begotten Son of God in the power of the true Light in us which is the onely begotten Son of God which all those that do not believe in the name of this true Light in them in the power of that Light in them which is the onely begotten Son of God they are already condemned they are while they are out of that believing in the name of the onely begotten Son of God in the present state of condemnation for their sins John 3. 18. and are in the doing of their own wills and so are not in the taking up of the Cross which is not onely to be taken up that is to say once and no more or now and then as for a man once to say he took up his Cross he crossed he said Nay to his own will he once vanquished he once overcame his own will he once followed Jesus or to say sometimes he took up his Cross he sometimes crossed his own will he sometimes vanquished and overcame his own will this is not enough to be a Disciple a Follower of Jesus a Scholar a Learner of Jesus but he that will be a Disciple a Follower a Scholar a Learner of Jesus he must daily that is constantly deny himself take up his Cross and follow Jesus As Jesus taught his Disciples to pray day by day for their daily bread so they are to pray day by day Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven They are day by day to pray that Gods will be done in their earthy bodies day by day to take up their Cross and follow Jesus day by day every day daily Jesus took up the Cross to his will as man he said Nay to that will that was in him as man he vanquished and overcame that will he had as man and day by day daily he did the will of the Father as he was the onely begotten Son of the Father and if any man and whosoever will come after him will follow him he must take up his Cross to his will he must cross his will he must say Nay to his will he must vanquish and overcome his will and this must not be done onely once or at some times but daily constantly day by day every day and that is to take up the Cross and follow Jesus follow that which saves from sin that it is to be a Scholar a Learner of that Light Jesus in us that is in us and it is a gift of God given unto us and that to that very end to save us from sin to save us from the doing of our own wills and to restore us to the doing of Gods will and to keep us in the doing of the Fathers will as the begotten Son of God and not as the created son of God who fell from the doing of Gods will although made in Gods Image which the begotten Son of God cannot fall from the doing of Gods will he sinneth not nor can he sin because the seed of God remains in him abides in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God That which is born of God cannot sin and whosoever does not bear his Cross and come to Jesus follow Jesus cannot be his Disciple Luke 14. 27. There is no being a Disciple a Scholar a Learner of Jesus without bearing of his Cross without coming to Jesus without following of Jesus none can be his Disciple but they may be the Disciples and Followers of Jesus and yet not follow those that look upon themselves to be the Disciples and Followers of Jesus The Twelve forbade one casting out Devils in Jesus Name because he did not follow them but Jesus rebuked them for it saying Forbid him not for he that is not against us is for us and none could do miracles in his name and lightly speak evil of him Mark 9. 38. 39 40. He that casteth out Devils in himself he that takes up the Cross to his own will he is a Follower of Jesus a Disciple a Scholar a Learner of Jesus within him that saves him from sin as was he that the Twelve met with that cast out Devils in Jesus name in the power of Jesus in him and yet the Twelve forbade him to cast out Devils in Jesus Name in the power of Jesus because he followed not them he gave not honour to them to follow them to come after them and therefore it was that they did not regard that he was a follower of Jesus and that he was for Jesus and did miracles in his Name they regarded more their own honour to be followed by him than they minded the honour of Jesus who he honoured and followed and was for Jesus and yet they forbade him to cast out Devils in Jesus Name who was on Jesus part and could not lightly easily readily speak evil of Jesus and yet in their own wills for a self-end of their own because he followed not them gave not them the honour they forbade him to cast out Devils in Jesus Name and such a one I have known forbidden to declare to others what God hath made known to him that so as an instrument in Gods hand he might be as a means to cast out the Devils that entred into man by the subtilty of the Serpents self in man in and by declaring to others Gods goodness to him how
the obedience done in man to God by that love of God which worketh the love in man by the making known of Gods love to man which begets a love in man to God by which love to God it is that man denies himself all self all that is of self in all the parts or properties of it And so in that denial of self he takes up the Cross to his own will And so as he is in the denying of himself and taking up of the Cross to his will to that will in him that is contrary to Gods will and would not that Gods will should be done in him And so as this Cross is taken up so are the manifestations or makings known of Gods Justice or Judgments in man and to man for his sins they are taken away from man There is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit Rom. 8. 1. Mark there is no condemnation there is no manifestation or making known of Gods Justice or Judgments for sin to those that are in Christ Jesus to those who walk not after the flesh to those who walk not after the self-will that is in man but walk after the spirit of Jesus in man walk after that which saves man from sin from all sin and that not onely from the outward actions of sin but also the inward love and desire to sin I am by the assistance of the Light the spirit of Jesus in me endeavouring to be of Paul's mind Philip. 3. But what things were gain to me those things I count loss for Christ Yea and doubtless I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dung that I may win Christ And be found in him not having my own righteousness 〈◊〉 is of the Law but that which is through the faith of Christ Thâ—â— I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable to his death If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead Not as though I had already attained either were already perfect but I follow after if I may apprehend that for which I am also apprehended of Christ Jesus Brethren I count not my self to have apprehended but this one thing I do forgetting those things that are behind and reaching forth unto those things that are before I press forward towards the mark for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus Let us therefore as many as be perfect be thus minded and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded God shall reveal it even this unto you And thus have I as briefly as well as I could let you know my experience how man may deny himself and take up a Cross to self-will or mans own will and follow Jesus And I hope the reading of it will not burden the Witness or Seed of God in any although some have pretended that the hearing of me speak to this purpose hath burdened the Witness or Seed of God in them I shall speak something of the benefit that I know by experience that comes to man by yielding to Gods Will by having of our Wills resigned and given up into Gods Will as the Will of man was when God made him in his own Image by our having our Wills resigned and given up into Gods Will we do thereby make it appear that we be like Jesus which was conceived in the Womb of the Virgin Mary and so took the outward nature of man as God created man without sin in that nature of man or outward body of man the man Jesus the Divine Nature dwelt that is it took up its abode or being there it stayed it remained there and the dwelling or abiding of the Divine Nature in that outward body of the man Jesus was that which caused that outward body to do nothing but what was the Will of God for that body that it should do as in that body of Jesus he did declare and make known saying I do nothing of my self but as the Father hath taught me I speak these things Joh. 8. 28. He spake not of himself but the Father that sent him he gave him a Commandment what he should say and what he should speak and he knew his Commandment is life everlasting therefore whatsoever he spake it was even as the Father had said to him so he spake John 12. 49 50. And that the world may know that he loved the Father and as the Father gave him commandment even so he did John 14. 31. And when there was something that did rise or get up in that outward body of Jesus as the nature of man was in it that would not have had Gods will to have been done to that body which that body came to do which he called his Will Yet how did he pray to the Father that that will of his that was not willing to have that done to that body which that body came to do that that Will that he called his Will should not be done but that the Will that he called the Fathers Will should be done as you may read in Matthew Mark and Luke Now as we come to have our wills resigned and given up into Gods will so we make it appear that we be like Jesus that as he in that body that was of the nature of man had the Divine Nature to dwell in that body so we in the outward body that is in the Nature of man have the Divine Nature to dwell in us I do not say in that measure and fulness that the Divine Nature dwelt in that body for the fulness of the Divine Nature dwelt in that body and to say that the seme fulness dwells in our bodies I think to be Blasphemy But this I do say that as our wills come to be resigned and given up to the will of God so we make it appear that we be like Jesus that is as he was in that outward body in the nature of man and so had the Divine Nature to dwell in him so in these bodies of ours the Divine Nature dwells in us that is a measure of the Divine Nature to dwell in us as Christ is the Head and we the Members of that Body and so as every member of the outward body partakes in its measure of the same life that is in the head so it is in the spiritual or mistical Body of Jesus As we come to haue our wills resigned and given up into the will of God so we make it appear that we are members of that Body and that there is a measure of the same Divine Nature to dwell in us in these bodies of ours that dwelt in that outward Body of that outward Jesus and that according to the measure of the same Divine Nature dwelling in these bodies