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
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
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
God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things that are not convenient Even that is just equal alike then things are said to be even when they are just equal alike Here is the reason why God gives men over to a reprobate mind to do those things that are evil It is because they do not like to retain to keep that knowledge that God hath given to them of himself and to keep it so as to glorifie him in that knowledge and so to glorifie him in that knowledge as thereby to manifest their thankfulness to him and to manifest their thankfulness by their obedience in obeying God according to what they know of him And the want of this their obeying God according to what God hath made known of himself unto them is the cause why even just alike God gives men over to a reprobate mind to do those things that are not convenient and as they are Reprobates so they are condemned Others that do the truth they obey God in Jesus the truth and their hearts desire is that Jesus the true Light may make known the truth in them and to them that their deeds are wrought in God and they are lovers of the Light and from that love that they have to the Light and to the doing the truth that is the doing of the will of God in sincerity and integrity of their hearts according as Jesus the true Light in them hath made known in them what is Gods will that they should do and what is Gods will that they should not do These they bring their deeds to the Light that they may be made manifest that is made known in them and to them that they are wrought by God in them Gods love is such to man in general to all men as that he is willing to keep man from perishing and is willing to save them and give them eternal life But some men are not willing to come to Jesus the true Light in them although God so loved the world Man as to send him to that end that whosoever believed on him should not perish but have eternal life yet Jesus the true Light said to some that thought to have eternal life in the Scriptures and it was to those that were in the highest outward form of worshipping God and said God was their Father to these Jesus said Ye will not come to me that ye might have life John 5. 39 40. Mans will is that which hinders man from coming to Jesus the true Light that they may have life that they may be saved by him God does his part in sending his Son into the World to save them and so the Father draws them by the Son and he is the true Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the World he makes known Gods love in them and to them and so the Father draws them by making known his love in them Can any one say that they have known the Father to draw them to come to the Son to believe on him any other way but as Jesus the Son the true Light in them hath made known the Fathers love to them And this God hath done to all because that which may be known of God is manifest in them God hath shewed it unto them 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 Mark that Even his eternal power and Godhead And what is there more to be known of God than his eternal power and Godhead Dare any one say that they know any thing more of God than what is contained in his eternal power and Godhead And although God hath so manifested himself in them and shewed himself to them yet they will not come to his beloved Son Jesus the true Light that they may have life Jesus did not say to them the subtle Serpent Satan the Tempter or the Devil that they would not have them come to him that they might have life but it was their will that hindered or kept them back from coming to Jesus that they might have life Ye will not come to me that ye might have life Oh Will Will that which brought man into sin and so brought death that keeps man from coming to Jesus the true Light that they may again have life To speak something of what I know of taking up the Cross and to follow JESUS TO have the will brought to be resigned up into Gods will to be given up into the will of God to be what God will this is the taking up of the Cross and following of Jesus this is to be a Disciple of Jesus this is to learn of Jesus and without this whatsoever outward profession any may be of how zealous soever they may be in that outward profession how outwardly blameless soever they may live how much soever they may be esteemed of by others how high esteem soever they may have of themselves as to be the Disciples the Scholars or Learners of Jesus yet if they have not learned some part of this Lesson to deny themselves to deny all that is of self in them which the will is a great part of and take up his Cross and follow Jesus The Cross that Jesus took up was the Cross to that will in him that as he was man would have had the Cup taken from him but he took up the Cross to that will in praying Father not my will but thy will be done and this Cross must all take up that will be his Disciples that will learn of him and follow him in the spirit and not be knowers of him in the flesh and followers of him onely in the flesh Jesus said to his Disciples that if any man will come after him and whosoever will come after him must deny himself and take up his Cross daily and follow him Matth. 16. 24. Mark 8. 24. Luke 9. 23. I pray mark the words of the Scripture if any man will or whosoever will which is as much as to say there is none whosoever that can come after Jesus there is none whosoever that can follow Jesus there is none whosoever that can learn of Jesus but they must first deny themselves deny all that is of self in them which will is a great part of All that is of self is first to be denyed before man can take up his Cross and follow Jesus before man can take up a Cross to his own will his own will must first be denyed be said Nay to be resisted as being of the Devil Resist the Devil and he will flee from you Jam. 4. 7. Resist the Temptations of the will and stand in obedience to Jesus the true Light and that will which opposeth Gods will that will flee from you it will not abide the battel with you but it will flee from you it will vanquish will be overcome and cease to be in you as it ceased to
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
another seed of the Woman and not that seed which knew the will of Man and condescended and joyned with Mans will in the transgression but it is a seed in man that never knew man that is the will of man by joyning with it or condescending to mans will in his disobedience but it ever did and doth oppose the will of man in his disobedience it is a Virgins seed that knew no man And this is as great a mystery to the Wisdom of this World as it was that an outward Virgin that never knew an outward man should bring forth a Son The woman that this Virgins seed shall save is that in man that was lost by the transgression Take notice of this before man transgressed he was drawn and went forth in the doing what he did by the spirit of God in him I hope none will deny that God breathed into him the breath of life and he became a living Soul man being thus made alive he was by the drawings of the spirit or the goings or leadings of the spirit of Jesus in him carried out by a principle of love to yield an obedience to God and in and by his transgression he died that is man as to his being drawn going or being led forth by the spirit of Jesus in him in obedience to God in that love that he had to God In the transgression that obedience that he had to God died which he was in before the transgression and drawn led or went forth in that obedience by the spirit of Jesus in him that obedience died that is it died as to mans part as to mans obeying of God and so man was lost as to his love and obedience to God and the woman being saved is the restoring of this love and obedience again in man to God which is done in the Virgins seed in the womans bearing the Child Jesus the Son of God God in us who came to seek and to save that which was lost What is now required of the woman to continue in to be saved in child-bearing that is she is to continue in faith charity holiness and sobriety these all were in Adam before the fall and so man may be said to die in the day that he eat of the forbidden fruit There was faith in Adam before he fell Adam before he fell he believed all that God had said to him to be true and he obeyed God in all that he had commanded him to do and he confessed the truth of what God had spoken to him and of his obedience to God in and by the woman It was the woman that said We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden but of the fruit of the tree in the midst of the garden God hath said ye shall not eat of it neither shall ye touch it lest ye die and this was spoken by the man in the woman as being led or guided by the spirit of Jesus in him to give this answer to the Serpent I pray mark God did make known his Commandment to the man before the woman had a being that is before she had a body separated from mans body man makes no acknowledgement of what God had commanded him to do or of his faith in believing the truth of what God had commanded or of his obedience to God but as he did it in and by the woman it was the woman that acknowledged the Command and their believing of it and their obedience to the Command the acknowledgement of their faith and obedience it was in this that she declared what God had commanded them to do and what he had commanded them not to do and the penalty if they transgressed and then they had not broken Gods Command The Serpent never set upon man to tempt him before he had a woman given to him as an Help-meet but after he had a woman given to him to be an Help-meet for him then he set upon him to tempt him in and by the woman read it in the mystery who can I hope none will own themselves to be so ignorant as to say they believe the Serpent did not tempt the man because the Scripture speaketh of the Woman and the Serpent to have all the discourse in the temptations but yet the Scripture saith that she took of the fruit thereof and did eat and gave also to her husband with her and he did eat and gave also to her husband with her and he did eat that is at the very same time and instant that the woman eat the husband eat also with her they eat together by which it is clear that the temptation was the same in the husband that it was in the woman but God is pleased to set it forth to be the woman that was tempted the more to make known the mystery of the creating of man and of mans fall and given it the name that the woman was deceived and in the transgression notwithstanding she shall be saved in Child-bearing And as Faith was in Adam before the fall so Charity was in Adam before the fall the height of love was in Adam before he fell there was no love in the heart of man to any creature before the fall mans heart was filled as I may so say with love to God the love of the Creation nor of any Creature was not entred into mans heart before the fall no not to Eve but onely as God had made her an Help-meet for man but he knew her not till after the fall and Holiness was in Adam before the fall as he was made in the Image of God and Sobriety was in man before the fall man had no high thoughts or esteem of himself While man stood stedfast in his faith believing the truth of what God had spoken and his love remained unchangeable and his holiness unblemished and his sobriety unmoved mans heart was like a pleasant and delightful Garden and while mans heart was thus as a garden and all that man did was done by mans being drawn or led or going forth thereunto by the spirit of Jesus in him for who dare say that man before his being tempted did any thing that was not the work of God in him and man in the garden and in his being led drawn or going forth by the spirit of Jesus in him subtilly gets into him and perswades him in the time of his being drawn led or going forth by the spirit of God or Jesus first to question the truth of what God had said and then to a desire to be as Gods Man was in the Image of God before the temptation as God made him and so in that Image he was led or drawn or went forth to do whatsoever he did by the spirit of God in him But subtilly the temptation caused a desire in him to be as Gods and not to be contented to be led drawn or guided by another as he was in that state that God had made him in but
second Adam it is Jesus in them that sinneth not in them and without that Jesus in them they cannot live without sin So then where is the difference between those that believe they cannot live in this body and not sin and yet they believe that Jesus lives in that body and he cannot sin and those that believe that there is a life attainable while this body lives that does not sin but this life that doth not sin is the life of Jesus in them But Adam did not continue in that state that God had made him in the Serpent gets into the garden into mans heart and the first work the Serpents subtile self doth he sets upon man in his faith and brings man first to question the truth of what God had commanded Yea hath God said Ye shall not eat of every tree in the garden and then to a not believing of what God had said that they should surely die but man believed the Serpent that said they should not surely die although they eat of the fruit that God had forbidden them to eat of Here man by yielding to the temptation lost his faith his faith did not continue in him and then he lost his love that he had to God he was afraid of God and there is no fear in love perfect love casteth out fear and then he lost his holiness the Image of God and also lost his sobriety pride got up in him a desire to be as gods And thus man although he had before his fall Faith Charity Holiness and Sobriety yet he not continuing in them was the cause of the fall and the woman that is saved in Child-bearing must not onely have Faith Charity Holiness and Sobriety as Adam had before his fall but must continue in them so that the saving of the woman is not onely a restoring of that again in man that was lost but a preserving man in that state that he was in before the fall which onely can be done by the power of that Jesus in her that the Devil could not prevail with in his temptations It is the bringing forth of that Child Jesus in man now that is the onely begotten son of God that must keep and preserve man that he is not prevailed with and overcome by the subtile Serpents temptations as Adam was I know there may be much wrought in man and yet the Child Jesus not born nor the woman saved out of the transgression But first to speak something of Jesus as he is the Light to all and a Saviour to some that never heard of Jesus born of the Virgin Mary and crucified by the Jews Christ Jesus as he is the Light John 1. 9 10 11 12 13. so he is the true Light that lightneth every man that comes into the world And so Jesus that saves from sin is in all that cometh into the world that was made by him but they knew him not And when he came to his own his own they received him not But as many as received him to them he gave power to become the sons of God even to them that believed on his Name Which were born not of bloud nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God John 3. 16. God so loved the world that he gave his onely begotten son that whosoever believed in him should not perish but have eternal life Jesus the onely begotten son of God as he is the Light so he is given of God to all the world to save them to keep them from perishing and to give them eternal light if they will receive him and believe in him He is a Light in all and to all that have not heard of him by that name of Jesus as born of the Virgin Mary and crucified at Jerusalem and yet have heard of him and knew him that is as there is Serpent bruising the heel of the seed of the woman If they do not then how do they find what God said to be true God said that the Serpent should bruise the heel of the seed of the woman but the begotten son of God in man that cannot sin the seed of God in man that cannot sin neither did it condescend to sin in Adam nor doth it now condescend to sin in any that are restored to that state that Adam was in before the fall And this is that that lives without sin that lives and cannot sin it is Jesus in us the onely begotten son of God And this is that life that Paul speaks of Gal. 2. 20. I am crucified with Christ that is dead with Christ Nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me Doth not most of them that profess themselves the sons of God and know any thing of the work of God in their hearts but will own Jesus Christ to be raised from death to life in them and to be alive in them And ask them if they believe that this Jesus Christ that lives in them sins they will answer No he lives in them without sin Then ask them that believe a state of Perfection and living without sin while this body lives what is it in them that does not sin whether it be the first Adam that was deceived and in the transgression that lives without sin in them or whether it be Jesus the second Adam that lives without sin in them They will answer The second Adam it is Jesus in them that sinneth not in them and without that Jesus in them they cannot live without sin So then where is the difference between those that believe they cannot live in this body and not sin and yet they believe that Jesus lives in that body and he cannot sin and those that believe that there is a life attainable while this body lives that does not sin but this life that doth not sin is the life of Jesus in them But Adam did not continue in that state that God had made him in the Serpent gets into the garden into mans heart and the first work the Serpents subtile self doth he sets upon man in his faith and brings man first to question the truth of what God had commanded Yea hath God said Ye shall not eat of every tree in the garden and then to a not believing of what God had said that they should surely die but man believed the Serpent that said they should not surely die although they eat of the fruit that God had forbidden them to eat of Here man by yielding to the temptation lost his faith his faith did not continue in him and then he lost his love that he had to God he was afraid of God and there is no fear in love perfect love casteth out fear and then he lost his holiness the Image of God and also lost his sobriety pride got up in him
what Jesus the Light made known to him to be Gods will to obey him in And Jesus tells the Jews that if they were Abraham's Children they would do the works of Abraham that is yield obedience to God in what Jesus as a Light in them tells them the Truth is Gods will that they should obey him in And while men are out of this obedience let them be of what outward form of worshipping of God that they will and have never so high esteem of themselves and be as highly esteemed of by others as these Jews had yet they are Children of Wrath as well as others and so in that state as Children of Wrath they are cast out of the Kingdom of Heaven and are where their Father the Devil is Oh! but infinite infinite are the mercies of that unchangeable God as I have experienced who can say in some measure with Paul Ephes 2. who wherein in times past walked according to the course of this world according to the prince of the power of the air the spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience Among whom also we had our conversation in time past in the lust of our flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature the children of wrath even as others Mark Among whom that is amongst those that had walked according to the course of this world according to the power of the Prince of the Air which is the Devil that worketh in the Children of disobedience among these we had our conversation in times past fulfilling the desires of our flesh and of the mind and were by nature Children of wrath even as others Although the Ephesians as they were Gentiles might not be in an outward form of worshipping God in those outward things that God had required to be worshipped in yet Paul was and of the highest sort or form of them as elsewhere he speaks of himself And yet see how Paul put himself to be equal with them that had been in no outward form of Worship although he himself had been high in that outward form of worshipping of God in those outward things that God had required to be worshipped in yet when he was in that height of outward Worship he owned himself to be one that walked according to the course of the world and according to the power of the Prince of the Air which is the Devil the Spirit which worketh in the Children of disobedience Among whom we had also our conversation Paul with the Ephesians had their conversations in time past in the lust of their flesh fulfilling the desires of their flesh and mind and were by nature Children of Wrath even as others Mark they were not onely Children of Wrath by nature that is by the nature of the Serpent who is the Prince of the Air who is the Devil who is the Spirit that worketh in the Children of disobedience but they were the Children of Wrath even as others that is just even alike there was no difference between their being Children of Wrath by nature and others being Children of Wrath by nature There is the same nature of being Children of Wrath in those that are high in an outward form of worshipping God as was Paul who as to his outward life as to men lived blameless and those that were in no outward form of worshipping God as were the Gentiles while they both have their conversations in the lust of the flesh fulfilling the desires of the mind pleasing themselves in what they do if they be in an outward form of Worship they please content and satisfie themselves in that outward form of Worship and therein they are fulfilling the lust of the flesh and the desires of their minds in eating of the forbidden Fruit as do those that were in no outward form of worshipping God as were the Gentiles who fulfilled the lust of the flesh and the desires of their minds in outward pleasures And so both those that fulfil the lust of the flesh and desire of the mind in outward forms of Worship or in outward pleasure they are those that are not suffering Jesus's Word to have any place in them and so they are seeking to kill Jesus in themselves for telling them the truth that he had of God But God who is rich in mercy for the great love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in sins hath quickned us together with Christ by grace we are saved and have raised us up together and have made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus Mark they which having their Conversations in the lust of the flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and mind and thereby were by nature Children of Disobedience and so Children of Wrath Children of the Devil both those that were not in an outward form of worshipping of God as were these Gentiles the Ephesians and those that were in the highest of outward forms of worshipping of God as was Paul yet God who is rich in mercy can and does for his great love sake wherewith he loved them yea even when they are dead in sins quicken them together with Christ and so raise them up together as to make them sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus as you may see more to that purpose in the second Chapter of the Ephesians Jesus tells the woman of Samaria John 4. that the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father But the hour cometh and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth for the Father seeketh such to worship him God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth Jerusalem was the place that God had chosen to be worshipped in and so it represents the true outward form of worshipping God wherein God was worshipped according to his Command The Mountain of Samaria represents the false worshipping of God for although there might be something done there that God had required in his outward Worship to be done yet they mixing other things with it that God had not required to be done in his Worship and so it represents all false outward forms of Worship And Jesus tells the woman and would have her believe him mark that Jesus would have the woman belleve him that the hour cometh when neither in this mountain that is in the false outward forms of Worship nor at Jerusalem that is the true outward forms of Worship they should worship the Father But the hour cometh and now is mark that now is then at that time it was that the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth and that because the Father seeketh such to worship him God being a spirit they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth or else it is no worshipping of him where the Spirit and the Truth is wanting because whom God seeketh
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 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
and him onely shalt thou serve Then the devil leaveth him And if in any of the Devils Temptations Jesus may be said to stop the mouth of the Devil and cause him to keep silence it was in this when he tempts him to have a love to the World and such a love to the World and the glory of it as for the enjoyment of it he should fall down and worship him And Jesus did not onely resist the Devil in his Temptation and rebuke him commanding him to depart from him and kept him for that time for speaking any more to him but he brings Scripture to prove the unlawfulness of the yielding to the Temptation It is written Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve This Scripture may also have two interpretations first that it was the duty of the Devil to worship Jesus as his Lord and God and not Jesus to worship the Devil and then as Jesus was man and the son of God so it was not his duty to fall down to the Devil and worship him but to worship the Father as his Lord and God And it were well if all the Objecters and all others would follow this Example of Jesus that when the Devil getteth them up uâ—to the exceeding high Mountain of the earthy part in them of that which hath a love to the world within them and there shew them all the Kingdoms of the World and the glory of them and promise to give them all to fall down and worship him that thus they resist the Devil and command him from them and as much as in them lieth not suffer him to speak of such a thing to them as to perswade them to have such a love to the World and the glory thereof wherein all things of the world within man which is mans self mans Will and all things without man that is all outward Creatures is contained and comprehended as for it to fall down and worship the Devil and for the love of the World and the glory thereof to serve and obey the Devil No no answer with Jesus Get thee hence Satan get thee hence Tempter It is written Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou serve And if I yield to thy Temptations to love the World and the glory of it and so in that my love to the World or to any part of it either within me or without me I fall down and worship thee then I cannot worship my Lord and my God onely but I shall be a Worshipper and a Server of thee No no this must not be In and under these three Temptations I believe that all the Temptations that man meets withal may be contained or comprehended as all Prayers are contained or comprehended in that Prayer Jesus taught his Disciples to pray And see Jesus in all these Temptations makes use of the Scriptures in his resisting of the Devil in his Temptations and thereby as man to shew the lawfulness and the usefulness that was in his making use of the Scriptures to resist the Devil in his Temptations And I believe it is our duty to follow Jesus's Example therein That it is our duty by the Scriptures to prove and try our works actions and doings whether they be done by the Spirit of Jesus in us that resisted the Devil in that outward body of Jesus Yea or Nay And if our works actions and doings cannot be proved by the Scripture to be according to the declared Will of God that he hath made known to man that is his Will that man should obey him in as Jesus in that outward body did by the Scriptures prove that his works actions and doings were according to Gods declared Will in the Scriptures that he should do and so he made use of the Scriptures not onely in that which is mentioned of his resisting of the Devil in his Temptations but in his other works actions and doings he makes use of the Scriptures to prove that what he did in that body was according to Gods declared Will that he should do in that body as it was written of him in the Scriptures And when the Apostle speaks of him to be the Body prepared by God to do Gods will which pleased God better than outward Sacrifice and Offerings he saith of him Lo I come to do thy will O God as it is written of me in the volume of the book There is a lo a behold put to it that is it is to be taken notice of that Jesus came to do in that body the will of God the Father as it was Gods declared will written in the Scriptures that he should do Heb. 10. 5 6 7. I do believe and dare be bold to say it that they are not the works actions and doings of the same Spirit of Jesus in man that was in that outward man Jesus which man doth and refuseth to bring to the Scriptures to prove that they are done according to Gods declared will written in the Scriptures that man is to do in obedience to him for Jesus did not onely make use of the Scriptures to resist the Devil in his Temptations but thereby to shew that what he did in resisting of the Devil was according to Gods declared will written in the Scriptures as he did in many other of his particular works and actions he made use of the Scripture to prove by the Scripture that it was according to Gods declared will written in the Scriptures that he should do And therefore I believe that I may safely conclude that those works actions and doings that are done by any that cannot be proved by the Scriptures to be Gods declared will for man to do in obedience to him that they are not wrought acted and done by the same Spirit of Jesus in them that wrought acted and did those things that God in the Scripture had declared to be his will to be done in that body And I think I do them no wrong to judge that those works actions and doings that is not done according to what they can prove by Scripture to be done according to Gods declared will therein written that such works actions and doings they are not the works actions or doings of Jesus in them as he is in them to save them from sin but they are the works actions and doings of a wrong spirit or will in them which would not have that done in those bodies of theirs that was and is Gods declared will written in the Scriptures that they should do and obey God in But perhaps some may object and speak to this purpose We have the Light in us and that is the true Light that is in us and it is the same true Light that is the Word of God it self and it is that which gave forth the Scriptures and what wouldst thou have us bring this Light in us to the Scriptures to be judged by them Or wouldst thou have us bring our works
desire nothing in that understanding and knowledge but Gods will to be done in his obeying God according to that understanding and knowledge that they have of God then the whole body is full of light full of obedience but if the eye be evil if in the understanding and knowledge we have of God we desire more to please satisfie and content our selves in that we know what is Gods declared will that we should do then to yield an obedience to God in what we know this makes the eye of the understanding and knowing part in man evil and then the whole body shall be full of darkness full of disobedience If therefore the light that is in us be darkness if therefore we have an understanding and knowledge of what is Gods will that we should do and we obey not God according to what we know of God how great is that darkness how great is that disobedience And therefore what great need is there for man to know that he hath denyed himself denyed all that is of self and taken up his Cross to his own will Without the doing thereof there is no following of Jesus no being a Disciple of Jesus no follower no learner of obedience to that Jesus to that true Light in us that is there in us to save us from sin without the denying of our selves and taking up the Cross to self-will And if it be objected Can man deny himself and take up his Cross and follow Jesus I answer What man may do of himself in seeking in labouring to deny himself and take up his Cross and to follow Jesus that is only self and is no denyal of self nor taking up of any Cross to self I know by experience that the subtile Serpent self in man is putting man upon that to think that of himself he can deny himself and follow Jesus I read in the Scripture that the kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of meal until the whole was leavened Mat. 13. 33. I pray mark the words of the Scripture it is not that the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto Leaven that a man took and hid in three measures of meal although baking was an Employment used by men many years before Christ spake this Parable we read of it to be used by men in the time that Joseph the son of Jacob was in Egypt but it is like unto Leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal When I began to write and did write that the woman in the mystery is mans being drawn by the spirit or the leadings or goings forth of man by the spirit of Jesus in man I then had not the least thoughts of this Parable but this is the woman that takes the Leaven and not man Man of himself he cannot take the Leaven that worketh the change in him no man cannot do it it is the work of Jesus in man drawing him forth by his spirit to take the Leaven The Leaven it is the love of God the manifestations the making known of Gods love to man and there in man to hide it as the outward woman hid the outward Leaven in the three measures of meal until the whole be changed until the whole be leavened until the whole be made like the Leaven So the woman in man that is mans being drawn led or carried out by the working of the spirit of Jesus in him she took that is the woman the goings forth of the spirit of Jesus in man it is that which takes in the love of God to man and hides it in man in the three measures of meal until the whole be leavened until the whole be changed and made like the Leaven like the love of God As the Apostle said We love him because he first loved us and so the love of God being taken in and hid in man it worketh that change in man as to make man love God again Self in man according to what I know and understand of it in me and so and not otherwise I am to speak and declare of it Self is made up of these three parts or properties The understanding or knowing part in man as it is in union with the subtile Serpent The desire love and affectionated part in man as it is let out after the Creation And the Will in man as separated from the Will of God These three joyned and united together as the one is not without the other they are unseparable They make what to my understanding is self in man I having first found that my falling upon the stone of the apprehensions of Gods Justice and Judgments for sin it had broken me to pieces had troubled had disquietted me had caused me to mourn for my sins and to repent of them and to pray against them I now have found the stone of Gods Justice and Judgment to fall upon all these three parts or properties of self in me and grinding them to pieces I have known so much of Gods Justice and Judgments to fall upon me for that understanding and knowledge that by the Serpents subtilty I had gained in reading the Scriptures and other books and by-words that I had heard spoken by men and in discourse with men that I was so much broken a pieces under the manifestations and makings known to me of Gods Justice for my knowing more of the Will of God than I yielded obedience to what I knew that it made me afraid to read afraid to speak And then was it made known to me that the letter of the Scripture killed because in that knowledge that I had I thought to have eternal life And then it was made known to me that my trusting in that knowledge hindered me of eternal life And then was it made known to me that the letter of the Scriptures were not the Word of God nor the power of God to salvation And then was it made known to me the desire love and affection that I had after the Creation the Creatures and especially the love to my self in that what I did in obedience to God was done for a self-end that the Justice and Judgments of God might not fall upon me for my sins more than it was for any love I had to God And then was it made known to me that it was my own will that put me upon the doing of all that I did in obedience to God and in the going from one outward form of Worship to another as I apprehended which was best and that God might be best pleased in And all this was done for a self-end to escape that punishment that I apprehended was due to me for my sins And so much was the manifestations and making known of Gods Wrath and Justice to me for my sins and not so much for my outward sins that men in the world take notice of to be sin and evil for so all my life I had lived as
blameless as most had done for now I do know that it was the true Light Christ Jesus that was in me judging and condemning me for such outward sins from my being a very Child and I was kept from such sins as being afraid of Gods Justice that was made known to me to be due for such sins and yet not so kept but that the subtile Serpent sometimes prevailed over me And then when I had sinned how did I repent and mourn and humble my self and pray to God for forgiveness and set upon religious duties as I was then taught to gain the love and favour of God! until at last these Prayers these Mournings these Repentings these Fastings these Religious Perfâ—â—mances became the greatest sins in me and I apprehended Gods Justice and Judgments to be most due to me for these religious sins as I may so call them more than I did for any outward profane sins for God had made it known to me that it was the Serpent self in me that put me upon the gaining of understanding and knowledge to know what was Gods will that man should do thereby to be able to discourse of it amongst men and to be counted some body and also by that knowledge I thought to have eternal life And God made it known to me that my love was more to my self in those things that I did in obedience to him than it was from any true love that I had to God for if I could have escaped Gods Justice for sin I should have loved and delighted more in sinning than in obeying God And God made it known to me that it was my own will and that for ends that I had of my own that I did all that I did in gaining and desiring to gain knowledge of him and of his will And so much was I then grownd in pieces by the stone of the manifestations and making known of Gods Justice and Judgment dâ—e to me for my religious sins as I may so call them as that I was afraid to read and I dare not pray to God but sometimes would fall down upon my knees and sigh and grown but dare not speak a word nor dare not speak and discourse of things concerning God as formerly I had done nor keep no company with those that were thought to be godly persons as before I had done nor went to no outward form of Worship but sighed and mourned to my self but made no outward shew of it for fear I should play the Hypocrite And while I was in this state and condition what was it that I would not have given for one glympse or little beam of the making known of Gods love to me which when I was worshipping and serving God as I thought I was when in the Serpents subtilty in the understanding and knowledge that he had put me upon to gain and in the obedience that he had put me upon to do after my Prayers Mournings and Repentings and humbling of my self for my sins and my Promises and Vows made to God to do so no more then could I easily apprehend God to be a merciful God forgiving sins and trespasses and that God had a love to me But now when I saw that in all these religious duties as I then called them I found that to be true which often in words I had spoken That all our Righteousness was but as filthy ragâ— and as a monstruous Garment and that we sinned in the best of our duties and performances When I found this to be true indeed which I had so often in formality spoken then there remained in me nothing but a fear of Gods Justice and Judgments to follow me for my sin and especially for my religious sins for my mocking God in a seeming outward obedience to him in doing the outward things that I knew was his will for me to do but my heart was not upright to God my love was to my sin but for fear of his Justice I dare not commit the sin and so it was self-will self-love in me that carried me out in the doing all that I did in obedience to God And for these self-actions in me I most feared Gods Justice to fall upon me and that made me afraid to do or perform any of those religious duties and performances as I then called them And thus by the grinding-stone of Gods Justice was self in me in its three parts or properties that is in the understanding and knowing part in the desire love and affection and in the will which I in the Parable compare to the three measures of Meal being thus grownd and made fit for the Leaven of Gods love to be taken in by the woman in me The drawings or goings forth of the spirit of Jesus in me to save me from sin which now I know was all of his working and preparing although I did not then understand it to be the work of Jesus in me but now I know that it was the work of Jesus in me to cause me to deny my self to deny my self in that understanding and wisdom that the Serpent put me upon to learn to deny my self in my love and desire to the Creation and especially to that of self in me and to deny my self in my own will and especially in the doing of what then I called religious works or Worship done to God And while I lay thus grownd apieces I saw nothing in my self to recommend me to God nor saw nothing in my self why God should bestow any love upon me nor could I apprehend that there was any love in me to God as once I could and did apprehend that there was love in me to God when I was worshipping him in the Serpents wisdom in my own will Then I thought there was a love in me to God and would say so too and would have taken it very ill if any one should have told me that I did not love God And while I was in this sad and deplorable estate without apprehending any love in me to God or any love in God to me Now I do know that this was the work of Jesus the true Light in me working in me by his spirit to save me from sin and that not onely from the outward actions of sin but to save me from the love of sin And when he had thus prepared in me if I may so call them his three measures of Meal the Understanding and Knowing part in me the Desire and Love in me and the Will in me and made them fit for the woman the drawings the leadings and goings forth of the spirit of Jesus in me to take the Leaven to take the makings known of the Fathers love to me then he caused it to be so to me then he made known the Fathers love to me And the manner of it was thus It pleased him to bring into my mind the words of Manoah Sampson's Father and his Mother when they saw the Angel of the Lord to
ascend up in the flame of the Altar Manoah said to his wife We shall surely die because we have seen God But his wife said unto him If the Lord were pleased to kill us he would not have received a burnt-offering and a meat-offering at our hands neither would he have shewed us all these things nor would at this time have told us such things as these Judg. 13. Upon the thinking of these words God was pleased to put this into me That if God had been pleased to kill me to send me to Hell to damn me he would never have shewed me all these things He would never have shewed me the deceit of the subtile Serpent self in me in putting me upon it to get to understand and know Gods declared will made known in the Scriptures which as to the letter of them I knew in that day much more than now I do He would never have discovered to me the deceit of the Serpent in putting me upon an outward form of Religion and from one form to another which was in best esteem and that out of a self-love and not out of any true love that was in me to God And he would never have discovered to me that all this was done in my own will for self-ends of my own if God had a mind to kill me to send me to Hell to damn me He would never have made known these things to me but have let me go on in the understanding and knowledge that the Serpent had put me upon to get and to let me have contented my self in that understanding and knowledge and in that worship and service of God that the subtile Serpent had put me upon to do in my own will and so have let me gone to Hell in deceiving my self thinking I had been going to Heaven and should never have known that I had been going to Hell until I had been in what is called the flames thereof The consideration of this as God would have it caused me to have some thoughts that God had some love to me or else he would never have made known these things to me And this was but a little Leaven and a very little too for I considering the greatness of my sins and especially of my religious sins as I now call them how much I had therein mocked God and the Serpent when he saw he could no more deceive me in a form of godliness then he had almost got me to despair of Gods love until God dropped in a little hopes of it upon the aforementioned considerations but so little was this Leavâ—â—f the manifestations or making known of Gods love to me that I was a long time between hope and fear until at length I thought there was something stirring in me that I could love God or a willingness in me to love God and then I began to have some hope that God might love me but not for any desert of mine as while I was in the deceivable estate deceived by the Serpent I thought then that God might love me for what I did for God in my obedience to God but now I knew a death to all those thoughts that God should love me for the obedience that I had done to him all that was grownd to pieces in me and now if God loved me he must love me freely And thus as I apprehended the freeness of Gods love to me so I found a love to grow in me to God And that understanding and knowledge that the Serpent had perswaded me to and that love and desire to self that he had wrought in me and that will of my own which before I acted by and did all in I sound to be so broken and grownd apieces as not to oppose or hinder the working of the Leaven of Gods love in me but the Leaven of Gods love did so work in me as to work up my heart again unto a love to God And then if at any time any thing of the parts or properties of self did rise in me the Light of Jesus in me discovered it and made it known to me and by my obedience yielding to the Light in those discoverings of self in me self it was kept under and subdued And so as it is the property of the Meal not to oppose or hinder the working of the Leaven that it is hid in but it is passive it suffers the Leaven to do its own work so as I kept in obedience to the Light in me which although then I did not know it by that name but onely by the name of the spirit of God in me I say as I was kept by that power by the power of the Light or spirit of God in me in obedience to the Light or spirit of God in me which made a discovery of the attempts or endeavours of self to rise again in me and as I was kept in obedience to that which discovered self in me so self was kept down in me in all its three parts or properties and so as self was kept down in me so self opposed not the working of the Leaven the making known of Gods love to me that wrought in me a love to God again and so as my love increased to God so it decreased to self in all the three parts or properties of it And so I came to know how to deny my self and take up the Cross to that will in me that is not willing that Gods will should be done in me and to follow Jesus to follow that in me that was in me a saving me from sin As the Leaven being hid in the Meal doth not presently do its work in leavening the whole but doth it by degrees a little and a little and in length of time it is that it brings the whole to be like it self so did I then find as now I do the Leaven of the love of God made known and hid in 〈◊〉 It did not then at the first making known of the love of Gâ—◠〈◊〉 me presently work such a love of God in me as to work out the love of all self in me but by little and little as I now find my love increase to God so I find love to die and decrease to self in me in all its three parts or properties and thereby a greater strength to increase in me to take up the Cross in me to that will in me that is not willing that the will of God should be done in me Man in himself of his own will went out of his obedience to God and so in and by his disobedience he lost his love to God and so came under the manifestations or makings known of Gods Justice and Judgment for his sin So man must by Gods making known his love which is in God as God changed not to man by this unchangeable love man must be brought to love God again and in and by that unchangeable love man is restored to love God again and in and by
of God there is a making of it appear that we in these bodies be like as Jesus was in that body in that we make known and make manifest to the World that we love God the Father and that we make it appear to them that we love God as our Father in that we keep his Commands and that we keep his Commands from a principle of love as Jesus did we do not only make it appear to the world that we do those things that God requires of us to do but we do them because we love God and we love him as our Father There be those that as to the outward in an outward obedience they do the things that God Commands but they do not do them because they love God as a Father but because they are afraid of Gods Justice or Judgments that they have a knowledge of that will fall upon them if they do not do the things that God Commands them to do and therefore it is that they do the things that God Commands them out of a fear and not from a principle of Love to God And by this we may know how far our wills are resigned and given up into the Will of God by what it is that works in us the doings of the Commands of God If that which puts us upon the doing of the things that God hath required of us to do is because we are afraid of God afraid of Gods Justice or Judgments to fall upon us which the light in us tells us is justly due to us for the breaking Gods Command then it is our own Will in us that puts us upon the doing of those things that God Commands us to do because we would escape the punishment and this our obedience is not done because we love God but because we love our selves But when the Will comes to be resigned and given up into Gods Will then there is a doing of Gods Commands not because we are afraid of Gods Justice or Judgments to fall upon us if we do not do them but because we love God as a Father and that was that from whence the Divine Nature in that body of Jesus did the Commands of God it was because there was a love in that Divine Nature which did the Commands of God in that body as God was its Father as God was he that begat that Divine Nature in that body When I speak of God as a Father begetting the Divine Nature in that body I do not believe that there is a separation in the Divine Nature it self or that there is degrees of Age in the Divine Nature it self as that which begets is before that which is begotten but I believe it is all one God all one Divine Nature all one Being which giveth Being to all but this I believe that there is a distance or degrees of time wherein this Divine Nature manifests or makes known it self to man his Creature as in the Creation he made known himself to be in man as his Creator and Maker of him in his own Image and not onely so but the words of the Scripture are in our Image in the Image that the Divine Nature would make known it self to man in as Father Son and Holy Ghost And man by his disobedience lost this Image of God and then God was pleased to make known himself to be in man as a begetter of his likeness in man and that which is the begotten likeness of God in man that is called the begotten Son of God And in that body of Jesus God the Divine Nature begot so much of the Divine Likeness as to keep that body from being overcome by the Devils Temptations as Adam was overcame in that created body wherein God had made his Image and this is a mystery to know the difference between the created Image and likeness of God and the begotten Image and likeness of God Man in the created Image and likeness of God by the subrilty of the Serpents Temptations fell and sinned and the begotten Image of God in man that cannot sin God caused the fulness of the Godhead to dwell bodily in that body of Jesus That body was so filled with God with the Divine Nature that there was no part of the body which was not filled which was not filled full of the Divine Nature and so the fulness of the Godhead may be said to dwell in that body bodily and so God is pleased to make known himself in such ways and by such means as he hath been pleased to make man capable to understand that of the Divine Nature and so much of it as is his good pleasure that man should understand of the Divine Nature and by Gods making known of the Divine Nature to beget that of the Divine Nature in that body of Jesus that did the Will of the Divine Nature in that body and in that body it did nothing else but the Will of the Divine Nature so God is pleased thereby to make known in us his begetting in these bodies of ours that of the Divine Nature his likeness in us in these bodies of ours that do the Will of God and that it do nothing else in us but the Will of God that is the Divine Nature by which God begets his likeness in us which Divine Nature is that which does the Will of God in us and it does nothing else in us but the Will of God as it did in Jesus the onely begotten Son of God And as we are begotten by the Divine Nature so are we members of that onely begotten Son of God and so we do nothing but what is Gods Will. And so as our Wills come to be resigned and given up into the Will of God then there will be a doing of the Commands of God as we love him as he is a Father that in these bodies of ours it is he that begot this divine nature in us by which we come to do his Commands And herein we manifest and make known to the world that we in these bodies of ours are according to the measure of the working of that divine nature in us working in us to resigne and give up our wills to the will of God like as Jesus was in that body And when there was something that did rise and get up in that outward body of Jesus as the nature of man was in that body that would not have had Gods will to have been done in that body which that body came to do which he called his will yet so filled full of the divine nature was that body as that there was no room in it to give it entertainment as appeareth by that earnestness that he prayed to the Father that that will of his as he was man that was not willing to have that done to that body which that body came to do that that which he called his will that was his will as he was man should not be done but that will that he called
is that which maketh chastisements although at present they seem grievous yet afterwards they yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness to them that are exercised therein This is the Feast of fat things and of Wine well refined from the lees that God hath made is making and will make upon his holy Mount for all Nations to come unto This is that which put more gladness into the heart than can the increase of Corn or Wine and all outward things This is that which causeth a lying down in peace The resigning and giving up of the will into the will of God was that in which the Faith of those mentioned in the 11th of the Hebrews was exercised in And who is it that can say upon a true examination that he hath any true peace any true quietness any true comfort any true quietness any true comfort any true content any true satisfaction in any thing that they desire to enjoy but as their wills be resigned and given up into the will of God in that enjoyment And who is it that can say upon a true examination that they have any true peace any true content any true satisfaction in any thing that does befal them or come to them or upon them that is contrary to the desire or will of man in them if they do not find that their wills as it is the will of man as it was in the man Christ Jesus are resigned and given up into the will of God in what is fallen upon them or come to them or upon them And in the having of the will resigned and given up into the will of God this gives true peace true quietness true comfort true content and true satisfaction in the enjoyment of what as man we desire to enjoy And in the having of the will resigned and given up into the will of God this giveth true peace true quiet true comfort true content and satisfaction in the bearing and suffering under those things that do befal us and come to us or upon us that are contrary to the desire and will of man in us And would man as God hath made him more reasonable and hath placed more of Reason in him than in all the Creatures upon Earth would he but consult with this Reason in him and be true to the Light of God in him he would see how reasonable a thing it is for him to resigne and give up his Will into the Will of God And if man did first consider the great care and love that God took I speak after the manner of men as God in the Scripture compares himself and his actions to man and to the actions of men and so after that manner I call it the great care and love that God did take in the creating and making of Man more than in all other things that he made In all other things that he made he did but say Let there be and there was as he said Let there be light and there was light And so on in the whole Creation it is And God said and as God said so it was until he came to make Man and then God said Let us make man Although the word us signifies more than one yet do I not believe that there is more than one God but God speaking after the manner of men calls in the advice or assistance of the whole Divine Nature that he would make himself known to man in as Father Son and Holy Ghost which he did not in all or any part of the Creation before and further he did not in all or any of the Creation before man being the last of the Creation He did not say Let us make it after our likeness but in the Creation of man he said Let us make man in our likeness And so God created man in his own Image And God did not say that he created any thing but man in his likeness and Image And moreover God did not give to any Creature that he had made except man the Dominion over any other Creature but to man God gave the Dominion over the fish of the Sea and over the fowl of the Air and over the cattel and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the Earth Would but man seriously consult with that Reason in him that God hath given to him above all the Creatures upon the Earth and believe the Truth that the true light in him would make known and discover to him in the reason that God hath given to him man could not but in the consideration of the great love that God manifests to him in his Creation in calling the whole Divine Nature to advise and assist in the making of him which he did not to all or any of the Creation besides man and then to make him in the likeness and Image of this Divine Nature which he made none of the Creation besides in and then to consider of the largeness of the Dominion that he gave to man over what he had created and gave no Dominion to any other Creature over any thing that he had Created â—nd if man would be serious in himself consulting with that Reason that God hath given to him and believe the truth of God in him the true light in him if he would believe the Truth of what this true Light in him would make known to him in the use of his Reason he could not deny but openly confess and own and that upon the consideration of what God hath done for him in his Creation that it is a thing very reasonable that man should resign and give up his will into the will of God to be what God would have him to be and further the light of God in man if man would be true to that light of God in him that would make known to man in that reason that God hath given to man That if man did not resign and give up his will into the will of God he would in the not doing of it shew and manifest an exceeding deal of Unworthiness Unthankfulness Disobedience and Rebellion against God who might very justly and reasonably require and command of man to have his will resigned and given up into his will for the great love and care that he manifested and made known to man above all other of his Creation in making of man in his likeness and Image and the Dominion that he gave him above what he gave to all other of his Creatures And if the consideration of Gods love to man in his Creation will not work upon man by the true light of God in him to the reasonableness that it is for man to resign and give up his will into Gods will then let man consider the unchangeableness of Gods love to man in that although God had manifested and made known so great love to man in his creating and making of him more than to any or all the Creatures that he made besides man and yet notwithstanding this great
light of God in them tells them that the sins that God is manifesting and making known his Justice and Judgments against them for is for such sins as that they would do it is for such sins as they were willing to do it is for such sins as they had a love and desire to do and therefore the Condemnation is upon them for such sins as they were willing to do and had a love to do And in this state as they lye under the sentence of Condemnation for their sins willingly done in them and by them they can see no love in God to them although at another time it may be they may think that God loves them when although in their own wills it is that they are yielding an outward obedience to God yet this apprehension of Gods love to them because of their yielding an outward obedience to God it is not lasting in them And why is it not lasting in them it is because their wills are not resigned and given up into the will of God but as soon as the Serpent by his subtilty draws them into disobedience to God then there rises in them an apprehension of Gods anger and a making known of Gods Justice to them for their sins which remain in them until by the Serpents subtilty he sometimes puts some of them upon it to go into merry company as they call it and so much as in them lyeth by their vain mirth they slay the witness of God in them and make merry over it and so for a time they get off or over that fear and dread that was in them of Gods Justice for their sins and if this will not do to get off the fear and dread of Gods Justice for sin as in many it will not then the subtile Serpent he puts them upon repentings prayings mournings humbling of themselves fasting and promises and it may be vows to do so no more and then upon these their doings and performing of worship and service to God as they call it then it may be they can apprehend some love again from God to them but as soon again as the guilt of sin falls upon them and God sets home upon them his Justice and Judgments due to them for their sins then instead of beholding love in God towards them they apprehend anger and wrath in God towards them for their sins and so they make God as changeable in his love to them as they are changeable in their obedience to God and so they in that state cannot come to a certain knowledge that there is a reconcilement made between God and them And why because their wills are not resigned and given up into the will of God but what obedience is done in them to God is done in their own wills and not in the will of God And from thence it is that when they fail in their obedience to God they fail in their apprehending love in God to them and why because all that is done in them is done in their own wills And if the consideration of the necessity that is in man to resign and give up his will into the will of God to keep man from perishing if this will not do to cause man to be willing to resign and give up his will into the will of God then let them consider that the same God that was and is able of stones to raise up children unto Abraham Matth. 3. 9. that this God in his infinite power was able to have left man in that dreadful state of a continual lying under the manifestations and making known of his Justice and Judgments to man for his sins without ever having any hopes of Gods love to him And in that infinite power of his he might have bestowed the riches of his Love upon some other Creature and that this infinite God in his infinite power should not leave man for ever under the apprehensions and making known of his Justice and Judgments to him for his sins and to be without all hopes of ever receiving any love from that God that he had so offended by his sins But that this infinite God instead of his thus leaving man in that dreadful state as was in his power so to do He in this infinite power hath notwithstanding all mans ill-deserving at his hands which in illness and badness of desert man hath deserved worse at Gods hands than all the Creatures besides because to none of the Creatures God manifested so much love and care in the creating of them as he did to man and no Creature hath rebelled more against God than man hath done and yet for this infinite God who in his infinite power might so justly have left man in that most miserable state and might have bestowed the riches of his Love upon some other Creature and instead thereof he without any desert on mans part and without any desire in man For this great God so freely to bestow his infinite and unchangeable love upon man his so unworthy and rebellious Creature and so great love as he bestows not the like love upon any of the Creation And all that is desired or required of man for his being made sure of this great and infinite unchangeable love of God is but for man to be willing to resign and give up his will into the will of this infinite loving God to be ruled and guided and governed by the will of this infinite loving God as the will of this infinite loving God is made known in him and to him man need not to say Who shall ascend into Heaven to bring Gods will down from thence that he may know what is Gods will for him to do Or who shall go down into the deep to bring Gods will from thence that he may know Gods will for him to do No there is no need of that for the Word the true Light Jesus that makes known what is God the Fathers will for man to do in obedience to him is nigh thee even in thy mouth and in thy heart Rom. 10. 8. and that is the word that the Apostles preached that man ought to believe and obey God in And this great work of obedience to this great loving God this great loving God is willing to work himself in man unto himself And all that is required or desired of man is but to be like the Meal that doth not hinder or oppose the working of the Leaven in it to change and alter the Meal and make it like the Leaven And what shall not the consideration of this infinite and unchangeable love of God so freely offered and tendered to man that hath been so unworthy so treacherous and so rebellious against this infinite loving Power who is willing to give and to make to man a full and firm assurance of this his unchangeable love to them and require nothing else of man for the doing thereof but a willingness for man to resigne and give up his Will into
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
to be spiritually worshipped and he accepts of no other Worship but what is the Worship of his own Spirit in man done from a principle of love to God And whatsoever Worship man in his will sets up because he would escape the Justice and Judgments of God for his sins is no Worship acceptable to God And this I do know that when men are in this Worship set up in their own wills to escape the punishment of God for their sins they say in their hearts as Jeroboam said outwardly of his Calves Behold thy gods that brought thee out of Egypt Behold this Worship that I in my will have set up or taken up to keep me from the apprehensions of Gods Justice and Judgments to me it hath delivered me it hath brought me out from that slavery and bondage that I was in under the apprehensions of the making known of Gods wrath Gods Justice and Judgments to me for my sins And now they set up an Altar to these the Calves that they have made that is their own outward obedience done in their own wills for their own ends and upon this Altar they offer their Sacrifices they offer their outward performances of their outward religious duties or their outward service in the worship of their Calves in worshipping and bowing down to that outward form of Worship that in their wills they have set up thereby to escape Gods Justice and Judgments that they apprehend to be due to them for their sins And although for a time they may hereby patch up a peace to themselves yet it is no more lasting to them than Adam's Aprons made of Fig-leaves were lasting to him for as soon as he heard Gods voice walking in the garden although in the cool of the day he was afraid and hid himself And so it will be with them as soon as they hear the voice of God speaking in the garden in their hearts saying Adam where art thou Man where art thou Art thou worshipping me in my Spirit in my Truth in my Jesus that saves thee from sin and that not onely from the outward actions of sin but from the love and desire to sin Man where art thou art thou in this Worship or art thou in a Worship set up in thy own will to escape the punishment that is due to thee for thy sins and yet in thy heart thou love and delight in sin as much as ever thou didst Man where art thou And when this day comes as that it will certainly come then their outward form of Worship set up in their own wills for their own ends to escape the apprehensions of Gods Justice and Judgments to them for their sins will do them no more good than Adam's Aprons of Fig-leaves covered his nakedness and hid him from Gods Justice for his sin but they will be as open and lie as naked to the manifestations of Gods Justice and Judgments to them for their sins as if they had never had any outward form of Worship I having had experience how subtilly the Serpent works twisting and turning himself about in the heart of man the garden of God in man upon the Tree of knowledge and when he sees he cannot keep man from being in some outward form of Worship and thereby be kept from running into outward sins and evils as once he had done whereby the manifestations and making known of Gods Justice and Judgments seize so upon man for his sins as that man knew not how to bear it then the Serpent willingly let man in his will to set upon an outward form of Worship thereby to take off the fierceness of the manifestation and making known of Gods Justice and Judgments that he once lay under for sin And the subtile Serpent cares not what outward form of Worship it is that man in his will will set up to worship in so that he can but keep alive in him the love to those sins that he outwardly leaves and forsakes And because he is afraid of Gods Justice for the committing of those sins man may make the outside as clear as he will as did the Pharisees if the inside be but foul if the love do but still remain to the sins or to any one sin the Serpent rather than he will wholly lose his Kingdom he will content himself if he can but rule and raign in the inward love to sin although it be but to one dearly beloved sin I also knowing the readiness and the proneness that is in man to yield to the subtilty of the Serpent and for his own ends for his own preservation to be kept from being killed or slain by the Justice of God as it was with Jeroboam when he set up his Calves which he did for his own preservation to be kept from being killed 1 Kings 12. 27. Man to be preserved and kept from the Justice and Judgments of God for sin he sets up and sets upon an outward form of Worship and such an outward form of Worship as that he thinks that God will be best pleased in And in this Worship he sets up his Altar of outward self-obedience to God and upon this Altar he offers his Sacrifice of an outward observance and that very strictly too of all and every of those things that are outwardly required or desired in that outward form of Worship that in his will he sets or takes up And in this his offering of his Sacrifice of a strict and devout observing and fulfilling of all and every of those things that are outwardly required and desired in that outward form of Worship which in his will he sets up and upon the Altar set up by him of his outward self-obedience to God In this man satisfies pleases and contents himself as Jeroboam did with his Calves instead of the true Worship of God which is to worship him in his Spirit and in his Truth in his Jesus in that which saves from sin and that not onely from the outward actions of sin for fear of the punishment but this Worship of God that is done in Spirit and in his Truth in his Jesus in that which saves from sin there is in this Worship a knowing of a being saved from the love to sin as well as a being saved from the outward actions of sin I say I knowing and having experienced how man thus by the subtilty of the Serpent is ready to set up a Worship to himself as Jeroboam did instead of the true Worship of God and upon the Altar set up by himself of self-obedience to God and there upon that Altar to offer his Sacrifices of a strict and devout doing and performing of all and every the outward things that is required or desired in that outward form of Worship and thereby and therein to please satisfie and content themselves as if they were worshipping God in his Spirit and in his Truth in his Jesus that does not onely save from the outward acts of sin but saves