4. 3. and he that is entred into his rest hath ceased from his works as God from his vers 10. He that hath the least taste of faith knows a measure of rest finding the life working in him and his soul daily led further and further into life by the working of the life and the heavy yoke of his own labouring after life taken of from his shoulders Now here 's the truth here 's the life here 's the sabbath here 's the worship of the soul that 's led into the truth and preserved in the truth But what is the worship now in the Apostacy Among the Papists a very grosse worship a worship more carnal then ever the worship of the Law was for that though in its nature it was outward and carnal yet it was taught and prescribed by the wisdom of God and was profitable in its place and to its end but this was invented by the corrupt wisdom and set up in the corrupt wil of man and hath no true profit but keeps from the life from the power from the spirit in fleshly observations which feed and please the fleshly nature Look upon their daies consecrated to Saints and their canonical hours of Prayer and their praying in an unknown tongue with their fastings feastings saying of Ave-Maries Pater-nosters Creeds c. are not all these from the life out of the spirit and after the invention and in the wil of the flesh Ah their stink is greater then the flesh-pots of Egypt And the worship of the Protestants comes too near them for their worship is also from a fleshly principle and in their own times and wils and according to their own understanding and apprehension of things and not from the rising up and guidance of the infallible life of the spirit in them for that they will quench They also observe dayes and times and perishing ordinances and are not come out of the flesh into that spirit where the worship is to be know and to be in 3. The Faith the true faith was lost The faith which gives victory over the world the faith which feeds the life of the just and slayes the unjust the faith which is pure the mystery whereof is held in a pure conscience the faith which gives entrance into the rest of God the faith which is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen this hath been lost and is not yet to be found among those who go for Christians For those who challenge the name of Christians and say they believe in Christ and have faith in him cannot with their faith overcome the world but are daily overcome by the world Where is there a Christian but he is either in the honours or in the fashion or in the customes or in the worships of the world if not in them all He is so farre from overcoming these that he is overcome with them yea so overcome so drunk therewith that he hath even lost his senses and thinks he may be a Christian and in a good state while he is there And the life of the just is not fed by their faith but the unjust nature is fed and the righteous witnesse which is raised up and lives by the true faith is kept down and cannot bring forth his life in them because of their unbelife for that is the proper name of their faith for being not true faith it is not faith but unbelief And the faith of Christians so called is not a mystery they know not the mystery of it which is held in a pure conscience but consists in believing an Historical relation and in a fleshly improving of that and can be held in an impure conscience Neither are they entered into rest by their faith for they know not the Sabbath in the Lord but are still in a shadowy Sabbarh Neither is it the substance of what they hope for but the substance of what they hope for is strange to them They are not come to Mount Sion to the City of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem to the innumerable company of Augels to the general assembly and Church of the first born to God the Judge Christ the Mediator and the blood of sprinkling and so to unity and certainty in the life but are in opinions waies and practises suitable to the earthly spirit which may easily be shaken and must be shaken down to the ground if ever they know the building of God and the true faith 4. The love the true love the innocent love which think no il nor wishes no ill much lesse can do any il to any but suffereth long and is kind meek humble not seeking its own but the good of others this love is lost The love unfained is banished and a fained love such a love as enmity and violence proceeds from is got in the place of it The true love loves the enemy and cannot return enmity for enmity but seeks the good of them who hate it but this love can persecute and hate that which it calls the friend nay the brother because of some difference in opinion or practice The love that was in Christ taught him to lay down his life for his sheep and he that hath the same love can lay down his life for his brother But the love that is now among Christians tends rather to the taking away of life What is the love among the Papists See their Inquisitions their wraths their fire and fagot c. What is their love in New-England is it not a love that can imprison or banish their brother if he differ but a little from them in judgement or practise about their worship yea they can whip burn in the hand cut off ears just like the Bishops of old England If one had told them when they fled from the persecution of the Bishops here that they themselves should have done such things they would have been apt to reply with Hazael what are we dogs But they fled from the Cross which would have crucified that persecuting spirit and so carried it alive with them and being alive it grew by degrees to as great an head there as it did in the Bishops here And what is the love here in old England is it not a love that whips stocks imprisons stones jeeres yea the very Teachers which should be patterns of love to others they will cast into prison and distrein the goods of their brother even almost to his undoing for maintenance according to a Law of the Land made in the Apostacy See the Record of Sufferings for Tythes in England which may make any tender heart bleed to read it and is like to lie as a brand of infamy on the Magistracy and Ministry of England to succeeding generations Is this the love of the righteous seed or is it Cains love which is in profession in word in shew but not in deed and in truth And how can these love God nay if the true love
of God were in them this enmity could not stand nor such fruits of it shoot forth But they have not seen the father or the Son and that life of them which appears in the earth the evill spirit in man seeks to destroy that he may keep up his own image and shadow of life which the nature of the true life in its appearance fights against By this shall all men know that ye are my Disciple if ye love one another And by this may all men know that those that now go for Christians are not Christs Disciples in that they do not love one another They are not in unity in the light and so cannot love one another there but are onely in unity in forms in opinions in professions in practises so any difference there stirs up the enmity causing risings in the heart against them at least if it proceed not further The true love grows from true union and fellowship in the light where that is not known there cannot be true love in the spirit but a fained love in the flesh 5. The true hope joy and peace is lost The true ground of hope is Christ in the heart and the true hope is that hope which ariseth from this ground from the feeling of Christ there Christ in you the hope of Glory Col. 1. 27. What is the true Christians hope it is Christ in him he hath eternal life abiding in him and he knows that cannot but lead to glory But what is the common Christians hope He fastens his hope upon the relation and his beliefe of an History He that believeth shall be saved I believe therefore I shall be saved And thus as he hath got up a wrong faith and a wrong love so he gets up a wrong hope And this hope will perish for this is the hope of the Hypocrite or an hope in the hypocritical nature which complies with Scripture-words but is not in union with God nor with the life of the Scriptures and so being without the anchor is tossed in the waves of the Sea And the true joy is in he spirit from what is felt and injoyned and hoped for there But the common Christians joy is from things which he gathers into and comprehends in his understanding or from flashes which he feels in his affectionate part from a fire and sparkes of his own kindling from whence he fetches his warmth and comfort And the true peace stands in the reconciliation with God by having that broken down which causeth the wrath and to which the wrath is where ever it is found The Lambe of God breaks down the wall of separation in the heart the blood of Jesus wherein is the life clenseth away the sin there maketh the heart pure uniteth the pure heart to the pure God here 's union here 's fellowship here 's peace But the common Christians peace is from a mis-understanding of Scriptures while the wall of separation is standing while wickednesse lodges in the heart They reason themselves from Scripture words into an apprehension that God is at peace with them and that they are in union with him while that of God which is in them witnesseth against them and checks them and wars with them and they are not one with it nor cannot be in that nature and understanding wherein their life lies to which belongs no peace 6. The true repentance conversion and regeneration hath been lost The true Repentance is from dead works and from the dead principle whence all the dead works proceed but these have not been repented of but perished in the apostacy The praying the striving the worshipping the fighting hath been from the dead principle The building up and whole exercise of Religion in the Apostacy hath been in that understanding which is to be destroyed and the will which should have been crucified hath been pleased and fed with its religion The true Conversion is from the power of Satan to God from the darknesse to the light But in the Apostacy men have not known God or Satan the light or the darknesse but have mistook taking the one for the other worshipping the Devil in stead of God Rev. 13. 4. and following the dark conceivings of their own and other mens minds concerning scripture and calling them light Regeneration is a changing of man whereby the birth is born of the Spirit the stripping of the creature of its own nature of its own understanding of its own will and forming it anew in the wombe of the Spirit so that the old creature is passed away and there comes forth a new thing which growes up daily in the new life towards the fulnesse of Christ But men have been so far from being born of the spirit that they have not so much as known the gift of the spirit in them but to this day are enemies and at a distance from that of God in them which is pure And if they could but open their eyes they would see that their birth is fleshly and consists at best but in such a conformity to the letter as the old nature may imitate and attain but the immortal seed is not sprung up in them nor they dead to the mortal or alive to the immortal 7. The true wisdome righteousnesse sanctification and redemption is lost The true wisdom stands in the fear of God and departing from evil This those that are taught of God learn and thereby are made wise unto salvation But most that are called Christians are not come to the fear of God and many are got above it looking upon it as legall and not appertaining to the Gospel but the Gospel state is love which casteth out fear Doth the love of God refuse or cast out the fear of God Nay it casts out the fear that brings bondage the fear that came in by transgression which fear is stirred up and discovered by the Law And this is a fear of sin or a fear arising from sin through the Law 's manifestation of it and the wrath against it which causeth both the fear and much bondage from the fear And this the Gospel which discovers the love the mercy the grace the power and unites to them frees from and casts out But then there is a fear of God a fear wrought in the heart by his spirit a fear which is part of the new Covenant I will put my fear in their hearts and they shall not depart from me a fear which is part of the everlasting Gospel Rev. 14. 6 7. and endureth for ever Psal 19. 9. And this fear is not bondage but liberty it is indeed bondage to the unjust but liberty to the just for where this fear is sin is departed from it sets free it delivers the feet out of the snare of iniquity there 's true liberty Can sin prevail in that heart where the pure clean fear of God is placed by God to keep it down The love of God doth not cast out this fear but keeps
which would not that I should reign over them bring hither and slay them before me For of a truth the great Prophet is arisen and speaks in the heart and his sheep hear his voice there are many faithful witnesses thereof and he that will not hear his voice must be cut off there is no avoiding of it for the two-edged sword is in his hand and he will cut down the transgressor 8. The Church the true Church was lost The true Church was a company gathered out of the world into God begotten of and gathered into his life by the living word and so had a true place and habitation in God The Apostle Paul writing to the Thessalonians stiles them a Church in God A Church under the Gospel is made up of true Israelites gathered out of their own spirits and natures into the measure of the spirit of God in them as Christ was into the fulnesse They are such as are begotten of God born of his spirit led by him out of Egypt through the wildernesse to Sion the holy mount there they meet with the elect precious corner stone which is laid in Sion and they being living stones are built upon it into Jerusalem the holy City 1 Pet 2. 5 6. Ebr. 12. 22. This is the true Church Every one that believes in Christ is a living stone and being a living stone he is laid upon the living foundation and so is a part of the building in the Temple of the living God Yea his body and and spirit being clensed he himself is a Temple wherein God dwels appears and is worshipped And the gathering of any of these together at any time in the life in the name of Christ is a larger Temple and such a Temple as Christ never fails to be in the midst of But the great Temple the ful Church is the general assembly of the first-born This is the unerring pillar and ground of truth This alwaies bare up truth truth never failed here but when it was at any time lost in the world it might from hence be recovered again when God pleased and as far as he pleased Indeed the Law of the Lord hath alwaies gone forth from this Sion and the living word from this Jerusalem But what hath the Church been in the Apostacy a building of stone say some and that not onely among Papists but here in England also many have called the old Mass-house a Church a Temple the house of God pleading for it to be a holy place and have showed it by their practises keeping off their hats while they were in it Others say not the stone building but the people that meet there is the Church whereof many are openly prophane yea so far from being gathered into the spirit and so ignorant of his motions that they are ready to scoffe if they hear a man speak of being moved by the spirit What are these are these living stones whereupon the true Church alone can be built are these children of the day Nay these are children of the night children brought up in the Apostacy from the true light the true life the true rule of Christianity the true worship the true faith the true love c. and so are dead stones in that building but not true living stones in Gods building Other sorts separate from these and gather Congregations out of these but still in the same spirit in the same nature being not themselves gathered out of the Apostacy from the spirit into the spirit again and so they build but with the same stones as were in the old building and not with the new and living stones and so are but a more refined appearance of a Church but not a true Church Not a Church in God and by the gathering of his spirit but of their own gathering after a form according as they have imagined from their reading and studying of the Scriptures 9. Which may be the last instance The Ministry the true Ministry hath been lost The true Ministry was a ministry made and appointed by the spirit by the gift of the Spirit bestowed on them and by the spirit sending of them and appointing them to their work Christ bid his Apostles and Disciples wait at Jerusalem for the promise of the spirit and when he had given them the spirit he gave them to the Church for the work of the Ministry Ephes 4. 11. 12. Act. 20. 28. And if none can be a member of the true Church but by being begotten out of death into life by the spirit surely none can be able to minister to him who is so begotten but by the same spirit So these receiving their Ministry of the Lord Jesus Act. 20. 24. and the gift of the spirit from him they were made able Ministers of the new Testament not of the letter but of the spirit 2 Cor. 3. 6. They were able in God to minister from his spirit to the spirits of his people And they did not minister a literal knowledg of things to the understanding of man but they led men to the spirit of God and ministred spiritual things to that spiritual understanding which was given them of God Neither did they make use of their own wisdom and art to tickle the natural ear but spake to the conscience with the demonstration of the spirit in the sight of God as it pleased the spirit to give them utterance But how have Ministers been made in the Apostacy By orders from men set up in their own wils after their own inventions And how have they been qualified but by humane arts and languages which have been of high esteem in that which men call the Church since the language and skill of the spirit of God hath been lost God who chose in his own Church doth not chuse here who shall be his Ministers but any man can appoint his Son to be a Minister if he will but educate him in learning and send him to the University and so bring him into that way of order wherein men make Ministers and then he is able to minister unto man the things of man according to human skil And this in the dark night of apostacy must go for a true call to the ministery of God Indeed they are as true Ministers as the Church is to which they minister but they never were nor never can be thus made Ministers of the Church of God but as God alone can form and build his Church so he alone can fit and appoint the Ministers thereof And though others having seen the grossenes of this make their ministers by a call in their Church yet neither is that out of the apostacy but onely a striving of man to get out of it which man cannot possibly do till he meet with the spirit of God to lead out of it So that that Ministry also is but an invention of man made by man and comes not from the spirit nor is able to minister spirit to the spirit
Object But hath there been no true Religion since the daies of the Apostes no true rule no true worship no true faith no true love no true hope joy or peace no true repentance conversion regeneration no true wisdom righteousnes sanctification and redemption no true Church no true Ministry What hath become of all our fore-fathers did they all perish And hath not this ministry converted many to God were not yee your selves converted by it Nay have not many of them been Martyrs and witnessed to the truth of God And though some of them are bad yet are not many of them zealous and conscientious Preachers of the Word at this day By such reasonings as these the wisdom of man much strengthens and hardens it selfe against the truth Answ The rule in Nations the worship in Nations the faith love hope joy peace repentance conversion regeneration c. which have been cried up in Nations for the truth the Churches in Nations the Ministry in Nations all these have been corrupted and never recovered their true state to this day There have been changes from one thing to another but the restauration hath not been known The whorish spirit hath been hunted puriued and so run out of one form into another traversing her way and changing her ground and garments but hath not been taken and judged to the death and the true spirit hath not been able to find the bed of her husband but hath wandered from mountain to hil all the time of this cloudy and dark day forgetting her resting place Yet though the whole earth was corrupted and false doctrine and worship set up every where among the Nations which continued the fornication and whoredom from the spirit of life in the publick wayes and national worships notwithstanding this even all this while God reserved a seed to himselfe which he caused to spring up in a remnant and which he moved and carried on to witnesse against somewhat of these corruptions in their several ages and generations And as fast as the beast killed and knocked down these God raised up more yea though the whorish spirit in some Nations painted her self curioussy leaving some of the grosse Doctrines and Worships of Popery and got into a more refined way yet God raised up witnesses against her there also and still doth into what form soever she gets for though of late she hath decked her self very pleasingly as she think and covered her selfe round with scripture-words and professions and practises as like as ever she can form them to the practises of former Saints yet quick and lively is the spirit of God that searcheth after her who hath found her out and raised up witnesses against her there also Now this seed this remnant though they were not able to recover the possession of the life and power that was lost yet they had a true taste of it and their testimony which they gave out from that taste was true and so far as they kept to this testimony in the faith and in the patience which they had learned and received from God though but in a low measure they were accepted of him So that all were not lost in this night of darkness but such as feared God and knew and hearkned to his voice had the testimony of his presence with them and tasted of his life and power in measure God was not an hard master to them but tender and gentle and contented to reap what he sowed But the appearance of God in this dark time was weak and low and easie to be made a prey of And this is very observable that so long as the simplicity ran pure it was preserved but so soon as ever the spirit of man was tempted either into any old or into any new invented form the wisdom of the flesh got in with it grew up more than it and when it had gathered strength corrupted the vessel betrayed the simplicity and lost the life Thus many pretious beginnings and buddings forth of life have been betrayed in these late daies There was a pretious thing stirring in Queen Maries dayes the life whereof was more hurt and suppressed by that dead form of Episcopacy succeeding afterwards then by the foregoing persecution The persecution did clear and brighten it but the fleshly form of Episcopacy brought death over it And the forms of Presbytery Independency Anabaptism have been little lesse then graves to bury and keep down the life How many spirits that had a precious savour in them at their entrance into those forms did soon become fleshly earthly and very unsavory loosing the quicknesse and freshness that was in them before and falling into the deadness of the form withering with it And as touching the Ministry though in it self it was evill being in the degeneration from the true Ministry all this time of the Apostacy and the persons therein for the most very corrupt being brought up to it as to a trade and making use of it as a trade yet I do believe that there was a simplicity of heart in some persons among them which did cause them in some degree of faithfulnesse to seek the Lord his service and the good of souls And in the time of ignorance and darkness it pleased God to wink at and over-look the evill and to cause good to passe from the good in them to the good in others through the evil that hung about both And this was the great tenderness of the Lord in pitty to his poor creatures who were very destitute to help in the thick night of darkness and should not now be made use of to justifie and keep up the evil Do ye thus requite the Lord O foolish people and unkind Because his mercy and goodness extended to you notwithstanding the evil which might have hindered will ye make that an argument to keep up the evill and to oppose the light which discovers it Because God causeth light to shine through the darkness and visiteth man in the dark wil ye therfore set up the darkness as his proper way of ministration The corrupt way call and exercise of the corrupt ministry could not keep out the tender love of God but he had respect to the simplicity of some who were found in it and to the simplicity of others who waited on him for instruction there and did please to give some answer to both And will ye make this uningenious use of it to interpret it as his approbation of that ministry which sprung up in the Apostacy from him among those that were apostatised and is a great dishonour to him and the abhorring of his soul A ministry of Christ a ministry set up by his spirit is precious but a ministry made by man according to his will and ministring in his wisdom the soul of the Lord beareth as a burthen and is pressed with it and as he raiseth up his own life wil ease himself of it And what do they minister from but the literal
part of the Scriptures which killeth and cannot give life and what do they minister with but their own understanding part what meanings they can invent what deductions the wisdom can draw from the Scriptures but do not see the true meaning in the infallible and unerring light and what do they minister to but the understanding part in you whereas there is somewhat else to be ministred to by the true Minister and what do they minister to you but food for the understanding food for the serpentine wisdom which alwaies fed upon knowledge but never upon the true bread and hereby another thing is fed in you and not your souls but they are kept in leanness and barrenness under death and the bondage of corruption which Paul cryed out upon as a wretched state and could find no ease rest or freedom from condemnation there and without the true life and redemption I do do not deny but ye may there meet with some kind of warmth in the affectionate part which may be heated by a fire and sparks of mans kindling and blowing up and this may go for life with you now but in the presence of the truth where the eye is opened it vanisheth yea the spirit of the Lord hath so blown upon it that it is even withered in the sight of a more inferiour eye in many people Position III. THat there is to be a recovery a true recovery out of this state of Apostacy into the true state of Christianity again God will not let the desolations of Sion remain for ever but he will again build up Sion and appear in his glory He will set his King upon his holy hill of Sion The new Jerusalem shall again come down from heaven The Man-childe which was taken up shall come down again conquering and to conquer the Lamb shal get the victory over the Whore and over all her apostatized Nations and Churches that have a name and not the life and he shall rule them with a rod of iron and make them a desolation which have made his holy city desolate and trample them down which have trampled upon it The lofty City he will lay low he wil lay it low even to the ground he wil bring it even to the dust The foot shall tread it down the feet of the poor the steps of the needy The whore shall be judged with the beast whereupon she rode the life which they trod upon shall rise up in the mighty power of the Lord and over-turn them The everlasting Gospel shall be again preached to them that dwel on the earth and to every Nation and kindred and tongue and people Rev. 14. 6. Mark the Gospel that was preached to the Nations all the time of the Apostacy was not the everlasting Gospel that Gospel did not bring life and immortality to life but they were hid from mens eyes and men had only a sound of words in stead of the thing And thus poor Nations kindreds people tongues were every where bewitched with a form of things with an outward knowledg a perishing knowledg in the perishing part a vain traditional invented worship which stands in the wisdom and will of man but had no union and fellowship with that which is everlasting And thus all the Nations in the smoke of the bottomlesse pit run into the pit from whence the smoke came But the Lord hath a time to pitty the poor Nations and to send forth his true everlasting Gospel again to deliver the Nations from that witchery and sorcery and spiritual inchantment which got up in the dark And as this everlasting light springs up then down goes Babylon down go all invented doctrines all invented forms all invented worships and that wisdom and evill spirit that raised them up Babylon is fallen is fallen that great City because she made all Nations drunk of the wine of the cup of her fornication Rev. 14. 1 And now the new wine of the kingdom which is tasted of in the everlasting Gospel purges out the old wine and the drunkennesse which thereby came upon the Nations wasts And they that have tasted of this life and know this life can never be bewitched back again by the whorish spirit to dead forms â—nd likenesses without life Nay when Babylon falls she can rise no more Though the life fall often it can rise again but when the witchery from the life is discovered and cast into the pit it can get out no more Indeed the beast hath had all the strength of the Nations and the whore hath had all the wisdom all the esteem all the honor who can make war with the beast who can shew miracles and wonders like the false Prophets who can teach but the wise learned orthodox men that have the arts and know the original yea there 's another that can make war and a Prophet that can preach better then them one that can preach life one that can preach the everlasting Gospel and knows the original of it one that is wiser and stronger then the whore and by his wisdom and strength is able to judge her and cast her out of the Nations though she hath got very strong possession Rev. 18. 8. Now learn wisdom know the parable of the fig-tree come to the life that is arisen and abide not in the death that is passed and passing away Ye have heard the voice of the Whore ye have drunk of her cup ye have been bewitched ye have set up her inventions but have wanted the thing which cannot be invented and which the inventing understanding cannot comprehend But if the force of the wine still remain upon you so that ye cannot hearken after or let in that which is everlasting assure your selves as the life rises ye will meet with plagues and wrath from it in stead of the refreshments it brins to others and know what it is to sit down under a dead talk of without feeling the living power of redemption Therefore be wise and know the times and seasons That will not be born with now which was born with formerly but as the love and power of God to salvation hath more appeared so the severity against those who now resist will appear more also And death shall have its sting which they that will love darknesse and hate the light shall feel Position IV. THat they that are in those things which have been set up in the times of the Apostacy are not yet come to the recovery from the Apostacy They that are in the Doctrines and bodies of Divinity which have been formed since are not in the true Doctrine They that are in the rules of life which wise Church-men or Synods or Councils have given or which they themselves have gathered by their industry out of the Scriptures are not in the true living and everlasting rule They that are in the worship or under the Ministry or of any Church which hath been set up since by the power of man
of bread Idolatry Answ The praying which God appointed is not Idolatry Praying in the Spirit of God when he moves and according to the will of God which is onely known in the Spitit is not Idolatry but thy praying in thine own spirit and at thine own times and according to thine own wil perhaps in way of imitation of the Jewish morning and evening Sacrifices this is Idolatry This is that which thou hást set up in stead of that which God set up and so it is not the true thing which God set up but an Idol of thine own making and so thou worshippest not God therein but that spirit which helped thee to invent and set up the Idol The same might be said concerning preaching singing washing with water breaking of bread and what ever else is practised in Religion upon these terms Object But doth not the Scripture mention these things and did not the Saints practise these things surely they were not Idolaters Can I be an Idolater in practising that which they practised Answ Nay thou art mistaken they are not the things which they practised The stress of their Religion lay in the life of it in the presence of the spirit of God in it it was his breath made it the truth Now if thou couldst have the same things that they had yet without the same living breath they would be but dead things but Idols But thou hast not the true form of things neither thou hast not the true Church the true Ministry the true Ordinances according to the form but things set up in their stead by the invention of man in the time of the Apostacy from the true things and what can these be but Idols The world wondered after the beast and they worshipped the Dragon which gave power unto the beast and they worshipped the beast Rev. 13. 3 4. Behold what was worshipped at the time of the Apostacy That which arose from the beastly invention of man and not from the true spirit of life And the inventing and setting up of these and worshipping according to these inventions is worshipping the Dragon for he getteth in and lodgeth in mans inventions and not the living God And therfore God at the end of this Apostacy raiseth up a new ministry to recal the Nations from worshipping the Dragon to the worship of God again ver 6. 7. of that Chapter What the Gentiles sacrificed of old they sacrificed to Devils and not to God 1 Cor. 10. 20. And what the late Gentiles sacrifice I mean Christians in the heathenish nature Christians to whom the outward court was given Rev. 11. 2. and who have not a profession of the Saints words and practises but without life they sacrifice not to God neither but to that spirit that helped them to invent and form a likenesse or image of the truth Transgressing the principle of God within they go from God and from his worship and the Devil who went out from the truth gets in and they go into his power and whatever they perform in worship there is to him for when they go from the principle of God in them the Devil gets into their hearts and God goes out and his true life power and worship is not known but an image or likeness which the Devil sets up in stead of the true thing So then in that state let men consider what they worship for there they cry up ordinancies and duties and kill one another about them thinking that they worship and honour God thereby but know not nor are come to that wherein God alone can be worshipped and honoured I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews and are not saith the spirit Rev. 2. 9. is this blasphemy For a man to call himself a Christian who is not what is that to call that a Church which is not what is that to call him a Minister of Christ who is not what is that to call those the Ordinances of Christ which are not what is that to call that faith which is not that justification which is not c. what is that Can ye spy out the blasphemer ye have made a great out-cry against him long are ye willing now he should be put to death The Lord hath lighted his candle he is searching for him and he will find him out and as he have desired so it shall be the Lord will not spare him O be awakened be awakened ye heathenish Christians Open the eye that can see and behold where ye are and what ye are doing and how fast ye are running into the pit Ye have forgotten God ye have lost the true line of judgement ye have lost the key of knowledg and the light that is in you is darkness and leads to darkness though ye cannot possibly believe it Oh come back to the remembrance of God and and to true holinesse without which no man shall see him for the wicked shall be turned into hel and all the Nations that forget God and ye have forgotten him days without number Position V. THat the onely way of recovery out of the Apostacy is by returning to and keeping in that spirit from which the Apostacy was The Apostacy came by leaving the spirit of God and running after another spirit and the recovery must be by leaving that other Spirit and returning to the spirit of God again How did Christians formerly begin their Religion They began in the Spirit Gal 3. 3. and so they were to go on to perfection and not intermix any thing of the flesh And had the anointing been kept to Antichrist and the mystery of iniquity had been kept out and where that is returned to the Antichristian spirit is purged out by degrees and the wayes thereof discovered and forsaken Therefore know the whorish Spirit in thy self which is busy to form likenesses in thy mind to seduce thee and to make thee fall in love with the likenesses which she hath formed in other mens minds and let her not deceive thee with her paint and gawdy appearances but know likewise the little seed of life from which truth springs up in thee and in which the spirit of truth dwels and is to be found and take heed least the serpentine wisdom teach thee to despise and turn from it From this spring it was that truth sprung up in the witnesses all the time of the Apostacy for they had their testimony from the spirit of Prophesie Rev. 19. 10. So far as they kept to that they gave a true testimony so far as their own spirits mixed with it they corrupted it But to abide in that was very hard and there was need of much affliction and persecution to keep the flesh down and to preserve the life pure But as the life springs up more strongly and overcomes that spirit inwardly I mean the wise fleshly spirit there wil be less need of outward afflictions or persecutions yea or inward either but there will be a safe
will lay low make foolish weak poor empty Lean for it lies in wickedness He will feed the fat and strong cattle with that judgment which shall make them lean and weak And the humble the foolish the weak the poor the empty the lean he will raise up and make wise and strong and rich and full and fat with the true honour the true wisdom the true strength the true riches the sure and living mercies of David who sets his feet on top of the high places of the earth of whom Christ came according to the flesh Thus I have in plainnes of heart and with plainnes of speech set the truth and the error before you and lent my hand toward the removing of some blocks which lay in your way in love and pitty to your souls Now if any in the reading of this feel a secret touch upon their hearts startling them and giving some testimony to the truth though very smal and through a thick dark covering there is that to which I speak there is my witness within the vail and there is the testimony rising up which leads to life if given heed to Keep to this and this will prick and wound judge and condemn the contrary nature though never so strong And when it doth prick and wound keep the wound fresh and open as thou lovest thy life till thou meet with the tâ—ue healer For the false prophet will rise up in thee and fill thee with reasonings and perhaps multitudes of promises and comforts from Scripture skinning over the wound and crying peace peace when there is no peace And when thou hast thus got over the trouble then the false prophet which brought thee this peace will stir thee up against the witness exalting the wisdom and reasonings of the flesh and making merry with thee over the witness which witnessed against thee and him and over the trouble which came thereby and this wil bring thee to that hardness of heart which is for destruction And then when thou hast slain the witness in thy self and exalted thy fleshly reason and understanding over it then the false prophet which seduced thee will kindle a zeal in thee against the witness in others and thou wilt prove a persecutor of the life under the name of deceit error heresy and blasphemy whereas thou thy self art fallen into the deceit into the error from the life and into the blasphemy against it and art in Cains nature and wouldst fain be handling of Cains weapons to destroy it Therefore take heed of the fleshly wisdom take heed of thine own understanding take heed of thy reasoning or disputing for these are the weapons where with the witness is slain That wisdom must be destroyed and that understanding brought to nought and thou become a child and learn as a child if ever thou know the things of God Where is the wise where is the Scribe where is the Disputer of this World did they ever from the beginning of the World to this day attain the knowledge of the things of God where are the Councils where are the great Convocations where are the Synods where are the assemblies of divines what is become of them all what have they done have they been ever able to lead out of the Apostacy from the truth into the truth again Nay that wisdom is cursed it is of the earth and fixeth in the earth and is the grand enemy to the wisdom that is from above And where that wisdom stands there is no entrance for the other This made it so hard for this sort of persons in all ages to own truth Thy wisdom and thy knowledge it hath perverted the. This made the whorish spirit so able to use sorceries and inchantments from the life in all ages And it is easier for publicans harlots drunkards swearers all sorts of sinners to own truth and enter into life then for these For it is easier to empty them of their profanenes then it is to empty these of their setled conceited Religion and devotion and yet this with their Religion and devotion cannot enter no more then the other with their profanenes Ye have a knowledge a righteousnesse an hope a faith c. founded by your pretence to Scriptures who can shake down these say you and yet these must fall before ye can build upon and grow up in the life that the Scriptures came from For the Scriptures were not given for men to gather the meanings out of and lay a foundation of faith there by their own wils but to discover and testifie of the foundation And he that comes thither is built there knows the truth not because the Scriptures say so but because he feels the thing is founded upon the thing grows up in the thing and the thing in him whereof the Scripture speaks And this knowledge shall abide and this faith and this righteousness and this holiness and this redemption whereas the other is but a name put upon that which is not the thing These are precious faithful words though through a Vessel weakned and weak beyond measure and happy is he that hath an ear to hear them but woe from the Lord to that eye that is closed to that ear that is shut to that heart that is hardned in the inventions and imaginations of mans fleshly mind against the truth of God Let the witness of God in thee stir and speak it shall answer me now but if thou through the strength of the flesh and the vain imaginations which thou huggest in thy heart stifle the voice of it now yet I know it shall answer me one day but then it will be too late for thee to hear it The Lord is now gentle and tender pursuing thee with his love and following thee up and dovvn with his light and though thou run from him into sin and transgression and hearken to the wisdom of the flesh yet his voice comes after thee to reclaim thee and if thou wilt hear and but yeeld thy self to him he vvil not put thee to do any thing but subdue all thy enemies for thee yea he vvil slay the serpentine vvisdom in thee vvith all its inventions and dash all she children of Babylon against the stones vvithout pitty to them though vvith great pitty to thee But if thou refuse and choose the pleasure of the flesh and the gross flesh-pots of Egypt and turn thine ear from his voice giving vvay to the reasonings of the flesh and keeping dovvn the vvitness that day of vvrath and severity vvhich all the Scriptures have spoke of vvil come and thou vvilt have thy portion vvith hypocrites vvho in all ages have covered themselves vvith a form of religion pleasing to the flesh and the vvorld but have vvith-held their hearts from the povver of life therefore prize the love of God to thee in giving thee this warning and be not uncircumcised in heart and ears as this generation of professors have alvvaies been but let
tasted of in any of the Ordinances of the Apostacy ye wil all one day acknowledge this to be a true testimony held forth to you in true love it were good for you that ye could see it now J. P. A brief account of what we are and what our work is in the World WE are a people whom God hath converted to himself a people in whom God hath raised up the seed of his own life and caused it to reign over the earthly part in our selves a people whom God hath divorced from the spirit of whordom and joyned to his own spirit We many of us sought truly and only after God from our child hood our consciences bear us witness in the sight of God but the honesty of our hearts was stil betrayed and we led aside by the whorish spirit and knew not how to turn to that of God in us which inclined us towards God By this means we came to great distress and misery beyond all men Not but that all men were in as great a want of God his life power and presence as we but the sence thereof was not so quickned in others as in us Now it pleased the Lord at length to pitty us and to inform our minds towards himself to shew us where life lay and where death lay and how to turn from the one and to the other and he gave us his helping hand to turn us And by being turned to him we have tasted of the truth of the true wisdom of the true power of the true life of the true righteousness of the true redemption and by receiving of this from God and tasting and handling of it we come to know that that which the World hath set up in the stead of it is not the thing it self Now mark we are not persons that have shot up out of the old root into another appearance as one Sect hath done out of another till many are come up one after another the ground stil remaining the same out of which they all grew but that ground hath been shaken and shaking destroyed and destroying removed and removing in us and the old root of Jesse hath been made manifest in us and we have been transplanted by the everlasting power of life and a real change brought forth in us out of that spirit wherein the World lives and worships into another spirit into which nothing which is of the World can enter And here we have met with the cal of God the conversion to God the regeneration in God the justification the sanctification the wisdom the redemption the true life and power of God which the World cannot so much as bear the name of And what we are made of God in Christ we know to be truth and no lie and when we testifie of this to the World in the measure of the life of God in us we speak truth and no lie though the World which knoweth not the truth cannot hear our voice Now our work in the World is to hold forth the vertues of him that hath called us to live like God not to own any thing in the World which God doth not own to forget our country our kindred our Fathers house and to live like persons of another country of another kindred of another family not to do any thing of our selves and which is pleasing to the old nature but all our words all our conversation yea every thought in us is to be come new Whatever comes from us is to come from the new principle of life in us and to answer that in others but we must not please the old nature at all in our selves nor in any else And walking faithfully thus with God we have a reward at present and a crown in the end which doth and will countervaile all the reproches and hardships we do or can meet with in the World We are also to be witnesses for God and to propagate his life in the World to be instruments in his hand to bring others out of death and captivity unto true life and liberty we are to fight against the powers of darkness every where as the Lord calleth us forth And this we are to do in his wisdom according to his will in his power and in his love sweetness and meekness We are not to take wayes according to our own wisdom but there must be a strict watch set in the life least that get up again nor must we speak such words as mans wisdom would call wise nor may we go in our own will to seek any but the Lord must go before nor may we make use of our own strength but feel his arme in our weakness nor may we go forth in that love sweetness or meekness vvhich is pleasing to the fleshly minde but vve must be true to God handling the svvord skilfully and faithfully judging and cutting down the transgressor in the power and authority of God and when the meek the lowly the humble thing is reached and raised then the true love the sweetness the tendernesse the meekness must go forth to that The Lord God is tough with the transgressor and all a long the Scripture heweth and judgeth him and if we come forth in the same spirit we shall finde the same leadings where we meet with the same thing for the Lord God will never be tender there nor can that which comes from him lives in him is lead by him be tender there where he is not Now the very root of this severity is good and of God and hath love and sweetness at the bottom of it yea in pittie love and bowels do we use the sword It is in pitty to the poor captived creature that that might be cut down which keeps it in bonds and captivity And though we seem enemies to all sorts of men for the Lords sake yet we are not enemies nor could do the least hurt to them any way but are true friends to their souls and bodies also and our only controversie is with that which captives and makes them miserable for we fight not at all with flesh and bloud but with the principality and power which led from God and rules in it against God to the poor creatures ruine and destruction Yea if we had all the powers of the earth in our hands we could not set up our own way if after the manner of men I may so call it or so much as disturb others in their way thereby but should waite in patience till God gave us an entrance by his power Now let not men run on in heats against us but let them seriously consider whether we be of God or no and let them consider not with the reason and understanding which is alienated from God but with the witness which lies hid in the heart There is one great palpable argument that we are of God which is this all the World is against us the Wordly part every where fights with us the Wordly
part in every sort and Sect of men opposeth us the rage of man every where riseth up against us But those that are so hot against us if at any time they become but meek and calme patiently considering our cause and consulting there upon with the testimony that they finde in their own hearts concerning us they soon become pacisied and see that we are no mans enemies against no righteous Law not against relations not against Governments not against any thing in the World that is good but only against that which is evil and corrupt And of a truth the corruption of things God hath shewed unto us and daily cals us forth after an immediate manner to witness against Therefore let men be sober and take heed what they do least they be found fighters against God for the reproaches the scoffs with other presecutions which seem to be cast at us light on him It is not as we are men but as we are obedient to him as we stand witnesses for him that we meet vvith these things Novv as it is not vve our selves that do these things but the life and povver of God in us so it is not vve that are struck at but that life and povver If it vvere not for that vve might be as acceptable as other men It is because vve are not of the World but God hath called us out of the World that vve are so hated of the World This is the true cause though the World vvill no more novv acknovvledge it than it vvould in former ages Yet I do not speak this for my ovvn sake to avoid my share in the cross for the reproach of Christ is our riches yea far greater treasure then is to be found in the Palace of Egypt Yea the presence of God the svveet povver of life makes up all our losses so that vve have no cause to complain It is very svveet pleasant and profitable for us to be found sufferers for God but vve knovv it vvill not be profitable for you to be found persecutors and this is told you in true love and good vvill by one vvho vvishes no evill to you for all the evill that ye have exercised tovvard the dear and precious people of God for these many years O that God vvould open your eyes that ye might see vvhom yee have opposed and against vvhom ye have hardened and strengthned your selves that ye might bovv to him and receive life from him and not perish in your gainsaying and opposition I. P. The cause of all error from the truth and the Universall call out of it into the low voice and beginnings of the true Eternal light which is the only leader to Eternall life and to followship in it NOw is the calling in of the Jews of the Papists of the Christians of all Sects upon the earth to the Lord into the fould into the covenant of God into the end of the Prophets the end of Moses the end of Abrahams words the end of the Apostles preaching into the substance Christ who is come to gather together in one and reconcile in one things in heaven and things in earth into covenant with God and this is the age the call is gone out the voice is gone out and the trumpet sounding for all to come in and the spirit bids come and he that hears may come and the bride and the Lamb saith come who raigns and the great war is begun and the slaughter shall be till the tenth of the spoile shall be offered up and the gathering of all Nations is come and the war among all Nations shall be and all shal be on heaps before the light of the Son of God be risen in the hearts of all people with which he must be seen and receive his government upon his shoulders Now is he come to raigh who doth enlighten every man that comes into the World Jews Gentiles Papists Christians Independents Baptists Heathens and all the Sects upon the earth whatsoever and all in the light are to be gathered into one minde and heart and soule and spirit concerning God and the Scriptures concerning the Prophets concerning Christ and the Apostles and concerning the types and parables and the figures with the light they shall see all and have unity with all who being out of the light they see not one another nor the Prophets nor Christ nor parables nor types nor figures and so have not unity with their words and so out of covenant with God and one another in the earthly nature in lusts strife and pride which causeth the wars which must be all burnt up and the cause of all peoples upon the earth setting up Images and Idols is because they are gone from the light which Christ hath enlightned them with all and so bows down to them but to the light should every one bow to Christ and to confesse him to the glory of God the cause of all them that are called Christians in Christendom setting up and making Images crosses and Idols likenesses and pictures names and worshipping Names 〈…〉 hath enlightned them withall and so they set up likenesses Images and Idols and fals down to them to put them in minde of Christ which coming to the light which Christ hath enlightned them withall every knee shall bow to him who is Immanuel and confess him to the glory of God and receive his minde and they need not have any outward thing to put him in their minde and the cause of all high notions of God Christ and Scriptures that are making Images and likenesses of things in heaven and setting up their imaginations of the Prophets Christs and the Saints words and falling out about them is because they be from the light which Christ hath enlightned them withall and t is the cause why the Jews rest in the types in the outward letter preist tythes temples shadows is because they be from the light which Christ hath enlightned them withall in which all people should have unity one with another with God and with Scriptures Jews and Gentiles to be gathered together in one with God with one another with Scriptures in which light people should have peace with God and one with another which is the covenant of God with man in which covenant people being in covenant one with another shall shake all Nations saith the Lord that that may appear that cannot be shaken and such an earth-quake shall be upon the World and the cause of all heresy and Sects and opinions Judgments and errors and false Prophets and deceiving men is going from the light which Christ hath inlightned them withall and the devil going out of truth which truth destroyes him and his works and death who being the power of it who hath blinded the minds of all the transgressors upon the earth who went out of the truth So this is the true light who hath inlightned every one that cometh into the World that all through the light might believe and
unto entring into the spirit of love by true union with Christ in the spirit which union is by the faith which comes from Christ 5. That this justification or righteousness is upon all that believe v. 22. He that receiveth the faith believeth and he that believeth hath the righteousness and he that believeth not cannot have the righteousness but the condemnation wrath abideth on him 6. That this justification is freely by the grace v. 24. There is no way to come to this righteousness but by the gift of grace which gift is given freely Therefore if ever man wil be justified he must know the grace and the gift which comes from the grace and receive it receiving it he cannot miss of justification and not receiving it but either being ignorant of it or resisting of it he cannot possibly be justified 7. That this justification is by the redemption in Christ v. 24. Christ is redeemer the redemption wherein is the justification is in him and there is no way of meeting with the justification or redemption but by receiving of him in whom it is and he who hath him hath the justification and is made partaker of the redemption and he who hath not him hath it not Mark then the justification or redemption is not by believing of a thing done without man though that also is to be believed but by receiving of him into the heart For the virtue of all Christ did without is within him I cannot be made partaker by believing that he did such a thing without or that he did it for me but by receiving the virtue of it into me and feeling the virtue of it in me This is that which saves me and makes that which was done without to be mine 8. That Christ is the propitiation v. 25. or that which pacifies and makes way for sinners to God so that he that truly receiveth Christ hath the atonement but he that hath not received him only dreameth of peace with God but stil remaineth in the enmity and is liable to the wrath having the bond of iniquity over him and is in the night 9. That this Propitiation is by faith in the blood v. 25. There is nothing pacifies God but the blood of his Son and thre is nothing feels the blood but the faith and that which is in the faith A man may read Scriptures and gather notions about justification and think he believes a right and shal be justified but he never comes to feel the blood nor the life which is in the blood till he receive the faith and then he knoweth the true propitiation and the true peace which before he did but talk of 10. That this faith is the righteousness Faith is the gift of God and this gift justifies this gift is the justification this is that which God imputeth for righteousness ch 4 v. 3. 5. The faith is in the blood and the blood is in the Son and in the true receiving of the Son both the faith and the blood are known and felt These are true words though hard to the fleshly ear do not stumble in the wisdom but calmly wait for the revelation of the spirit and then thou wilt say the price of this knowledg is not to be valued if once thou come to tast truth here all thy knowledg in the letter wil be but dross with thee Ye are come to the blood of sprinkling O do not rest in an outward way of believing an outward thing but seek out the way of coming to the blood of sprinkling 11. That the justification is of the ungodly v. 5. He whom God maketh righteous was ungodly before he made him righteous There was nothing but unrighteousness could be imputed to him in transgression before he gave him his Son and made him righteous in his Son for nothing is righteous with God but Christ and man only as he taken into his righteousnes which is done not by a believing from the bare leter but by a receiving of faith in the life 12. That the justification of the ungodly is by believing in him that justifieth v. 5. The gift of faith goes forth from him is received into the heart now both by the gift it self and by the exercise of it is the justification by receiving of the gift is the person justified by the exercise of the gift are all his actions justified Christ being let in to the heart justifies the heart into which he is received and Christ being in the heart justifies every motion and action that comes from his life and any other motion or action is not justified for it is out of that which is justified and is in and from that which is condemned Abraham believed God and it was counted anto him for righteousness v. â— God promised him a seed he believed God God bid him sacrifice this type he believed This was it was imputed to him for righteousness Now if he had not believed if he had not received the gift or not exercised the gift could he have been righteous so that Abraham was not justified by any work he did or could do but by receiving and exercising the faith in the seed by going out of his country kindred and fathers house not of himself but by faith and by living to God and obeying his voice in that land to which he was led not in his own wil or power but in the faith And by hearing the call of God and receiving the faith and living out of self out of a mans own understanding wil and power in the faith and living power and wisdom of God is the justification now and they that do thus are the children of Abraham born of the free woman when as they that take up practises from the letter without being ingraffed into the life are but children of the bond woman but such children of Abraham as the Jews were if so much and can not inherit that promise which belongs to the spiritual seed while they live in that state 13. That wher the faith which is imputed unto righteousness is found there sin is not imputed but covered which is a blessed state v. 6 7 8. Sin cuts off from God who is life blessedness sin laies open to the wrath of the creator which is too great for the creator to bear woe and misery wil be his portion to whom God imputes sin But happy is he who has his sin covered this is an happy condition life and immortality will soon be opened to him Now this blessedness cometh not by the works of the law for they cannot remove the sin but by the righteousness of faith which is able to cover the sin even from the pure ey of God O Christians christians do not imagine your selves covered from sin but know it feel it never rest till ye are so made partakers of the true righteousness that by its virtue in you ye may be past all doubt that it is it
Believing from the letter without you that ye are justified may easily deceive you but if once ye come truly to feel in your selves the thing which justifies and so find the power and life of it in you above the power of all that which condemns casting out the condemned thing and the condemner with all his works out of your hearts this cannot deceive The virtue of life was lost in the Apostacy and that which was living did not so much enjoy life as mourn after it and the power and safety of life did then appear most in mourning but now the Apostacy draws towards an end and the virtue begins to shoot up again and he that wil be a Christian now must be so not by retaining his old notions but by feeling this new virtue and by growing up in this new-sprung life and power of the Lord whose appearance is new to us who have not been acquainted with it but have been brought up in the darkness of the apostacy and lived in the waters where great Leviathan ruled and who was able to make war with him there But he that seeketh is joyned with and keepeth to that power which drieth up the waters and putteth an hook into the nostrils of the Leviathan shall find the world with the whole course of it ending in himself and the beginning and growth of an endless life and in whom that life lives they shall live also but wher death keeps the power of life down such shal not live or know the blessing but abide under the curse of misery and death and under the powers of darkness Therefore look about you and make a wise choice for his servants ye are whom ye obey whether the Prince of darkness in his invented forms of godliness or the Prince of light it the living power and your reward shall be according to your choice and work either death in the death if ye chuse and joyn to that or life in the life if ye joyn to that He that hath an ear to hear let him hear J. P. A Table of the Contents AN Apostacy from the truth fore-told of Page 1 That this Apostacy began in the dayes of the Apostles p. 4 The poyson of it infecting the Churches then p. 5 The general overspreading of the Apostacy over the whole earth p. 7 Witnesses raised up against the Apostates but still persecuted and slain by the Apostates in all ages since the Apostacy p. 8 Where the true Religion and Church hath been to be sought for all the time of the Apostacy 9 The general corrupting of the Doctrine of the Gospel and of the whole state of Christianity by the Apostacy 10 The rule of Christianity lost in the Apostacy 10 An objection concerning the rule answered 13 The true rule which was before the Apostacy infallible 16 A dishonor put upon the Scriptures under pretence of honour 17 The Scriptures honor to be again recovered 18 The true worship lost in the Apostacy 18 The true faith lost in the Apostacy 21 The true unfeigned love lost in the Apostacy and a feigned love got up since among professors of all sorts 22 The true hope lost in the Apostacy 23 The true joy lost in the Apostacy 24 The true peace lost in the Apostacy 24 The true repentance lost in the Apostacy 24 The true conversion lost in the Apostacy 25 The true regeneration lost in the apostacy 25 The true wisdom lost in the Apostacy 25 The true righeousness or justification lost in the Apostacy 26 The true sanctification lost in the Apostacy 27 The true redemption lost in the Apostacy 27 The difference between Christians before the apostacy and Christians since in the very substance of Christianity 28 The true Church lost in the Apostacy 29 The true Ministry lost in the Apostacy 30 Witnesses raised up in all Nations to testifie against the Apostacy and some sparks of truth such as God saw fit for them to testifie to the present age revived in them 32 As the whorish spirit changed her dresses to keep up her deceit and to with-hold the honest hearted from the truth so witnesses still raised up against her to discover her and witnesse against her in all her new forms and shapes 33 Affliction and persecution good for the witnesses to keep down the flesh and keep the life pure in its weak appearance in them in the time of the Apostacy 33 The tender kindness of God to the simple and honest hearted in the time of the Apostacy 34 The ill use that the carnal mind now makes of it 34 The Ministry of the apostacy wrong in its nature and whole course feeding the fleshly part but not able to raise up and feed the soul 34 Of a recovery from the Apostacy the Lamb and the Saints again ruling 35 The preaching of the Gospel again in the world 36 The fall of inventions traditions and false worship with that whorish spirit which invented them and bewitched all Nations with them 36 Plagues to come upon them that abide in any part of Babylon 37 Who are still in some part or other of the apostacy and not recovered from it 37 What the spirit that ruleth in the apostacy raiseth up in men and what it suppresseth 38 How this Spirit intangled the simple hearted and held them in her snares even when there were pure stirrings of life to get loose from her 39 What the worship of men is in the apostacy and whom they worship 40 The onely way of recovery out of the apostacy 43 The enmity of this Nation against that Spirit which would recover it out of the apostacy 44 The danger of this enmity to the Nation 45 Salvation onely by the true knowledge of Christ 46 By the new covenant 46 The Laws whereof are to be written in the heart 47 Which can be done by none but the Spirit 48 Therefore the first thing to be known in Religion is the Spirit 48 The Spirit is first known as a convincer of sin 49 He convinceth by his light in the conscience 50 The light of conviction shineth in every conscience 50 Believing in this light is the true way to life 51 Believing in this light unites to God and opens the springs of life 52 How we came to the knowledg of the way to life 53 The true Heirs comfidence in God against all the powers of flesh 53 The springing up of the seed of God in this Nation with the great opposition against it 54 The spirit of error chargeth truth with those things which belong to it self 55 Truth would take away the error with that from whence it springs and wherein it lodges but that it is opposed and withstood at the very first even when it doth but begin to discover 57 Object That this is a new way answered 58 Obj. That this light is natural answered 59 Obj. That it makes the Scriptures void answered 59 Obj. That it teaches things contrary to the Scripture answered 61 Obj. That it sets up free-will answered 61 Obj. About wanting power answered 63 Obj. That this sets up a covenant of works answered 63 Obj. That it breaks down relations laws governments takes away due respect from Magistrates c. answered 65 A false healing of a true wound is the cause of error from the Spirit of life in ones self and of persecuting it in others 67 The wisdom which hath been gathering knowledg from the Scriptures in the apostacy must fall and all that knowledge come to naught before the truth can be received 68 Gods love in discovering the Apostacy and calling from it and
betrayed and held captive by the whorish spirit that sits ruler in judgment I do not speak of all people of all sects that they have zeal and simplicity but of some people in all sects and through all these false Churches and so the spirit which has guided the judgment that has abased the zeal and abused the sincerity and betrayed it so people have been a running running after the form and blind in judgement and lost sincerity and simplicity that has been betrayed in them though sometime appearing and stirring and so the wrong part in people has fed upon the form and appearance and the seed starved and the sincerity eaten out and so one sect hath made this the rule of their judgment and another sect another thing the rule of their judgment one cries tradition another Scriptures another cries the practice of Saints before us none of all have been guided in judgment by the spirit of the Lord and where the spirit of the Lord is not the onely rule of judgment guiding the judgment in all things that people and that man are in error and the sincerity in them hath not its free course but bound under with a spirit which is bondage and leads into bondage and when people comes to be turned to the light of Christ in them and receive a measure of the Spirit of the Lord to guide the judgment then the sincerity and simplicity and zeal wil grow and thrive and be increased but til then the good is eaten out that lies under and is oppressed and ever and alwaies the desire quenched the sincerity lost the simplicity betrayed by the spirit of whoredom which rules the judgment and these things are manifest in our age therefore all people come out of your sects and false Churches for the woman is returned and returning out of the wilderness and the seed shal spring forth as in the dayes of old E. B. A Testimony of great concernment to all that call themselves Christians but have not known the true Church of which alone the true Christian can be born THere hath been a great War between the woman and her seed and the harlot and her seed from the beginning to this day and they have each had their prevailings in the war The woman and her seed have been made strong in God to conquer some of the territories of death and to set up their life in the world Thus in the Jewish state God prepared an heaven and an earth for the woman and her seed and when that heaven and earth was shaken he prepared a more glorious heaven and earth in the Christian state Now no sooner was the Church and her seed seated in either of these but the Dragon made made war against her and in the war had power given him to recover her seat from her Thus the Devil gat possession of the Jewish state so that there was no room for the true Church there but all was in idolatry and corruption and the Lord was not served by their ceremonies by their sacrifices by their Sabbaths by their new moons by their Temple-worship c. but the Devil And the Devil also got possession of the heaven and earth in the Christian state so that in their Ordinances in their worships in their duties in that which they call their Churches God hath not been worshipped in truth but the Devil for this many ages For mark who was it that got into the Temple of God was it not Antichrist was it not the Spirit of Satan 2 Thes 2. 4. And who was it that was worshipped in all the world that had power given him over all kindreds and tongues and nations and whom all that dwel upon the earth worship was it not the Dragon Rev. 13. 7 8. Did not all the world wonder after the beast and worship the Dragon which gave power unto the beast ver 3. 4. of that Chap. The woman was assaulted here her strong holds taken from her so that she could not stay safe in that heaven and earth which God had made for her therefore there was another place prepared for her by God in the wilderness and she had wings of an Eagle given her to fly thither but the Dragon got into and held possession of that heaven where she was before Rev. 12. So that none hath known the Church all this time but he that hath been born of her in the wilderness which was a place the world never dreamed of but looked for her in the heaven and the earth which the Devil had got possession of And here they cry up the Ordidinances the Ordinances duties the Church the Ministry c. as the Jews did the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord not knowing in whose hands these were and whom they worshipped hereby Now consider this O ye Christians I speak what I assuredly know that God could not be truly worshipped in any of these while they were in the Devils hands but the whorish Spirit and her seed worship here and the worship of the Church and her seed was a wildernessworship or a worship which she learned of God in the wilderness Mark now and consider my testimony O ye Christians I deny all the worship all the Ordinances which were taught the Christians of old now practised by the whorish spirit for the Devil had gained it and corrupted it and having corrupted it God could not be any more worshipped in it but the Antichristian spirit sate there giving forth those things as his Laws He sate in the Temple of God and there made use of the Vessels and Ordinances which he had carried captive into his Babylon and I deny it to be possible to have any true use of these til the time of the recovery And now the time of the recovery is come and the restitution begun people know it not but cry up the old heaven and the old earth which Satan had corrupted setting it up in opposition against the new which God hath new formed and is bringing forth in true beauty and glory Now in this war though the Devil though the harlot and her seed gat the womans seat from her and banished her seed as it were out of the earth yet they were not able to touch the woman nor to over-come the life of God in her seed but onely to kil their bodies but the life was stil conqueror over them and not subjected to them They could raise up Churches and Ordinances and Ministers and duties and cause all that dwel on the earth to worship in some part or other of this Babylon but they could never make the seed bow to any of their images nor could they hurt the woman hereby who was in the wilderness out of the reach of all these And there she did eat the bread of life with tears mourning over her desolate estate and her loss of children And here alone was the true bread of life which was not to be known or