be all in love to injoy God in time of trouble or at all times and to be with him in Spirit where he is this is an Heavenly estate to see the invisible appear in the visible and to swallow it up in it self in love as Enech that walked with God and was not but there is such a way for Saints to go before they come to injoy their Kingdome or to enter into their glory as followeth as Iesus Christ hath shewed us in that which is called the Lords Supper and Baptism that no Flesh wil indure it as wil appear First from those words of Christ in Mat. 20.19.20.21 for when he was defired by the mother of Zebedees children that her two sons might sit the one at his right hand and the other at his left in his kingdome his answer was You know not what you ask for saith he Are ye able to drink of the Cup that I shal drink of and to be Baptised with the Baptisme what Jam Baptised withall As if he should say the way that leads to my kindome is a Crucifying way even from the beginning to the end as it was with me who was persecuted from my birth to my death it is a way sprinkled with blood and burning with Fire very sharp and bitter and no sweetnesse in it for many storms and tempests wil arise and fall upon your travel to Canaan you must be crowned with thorts and you must be tempted with the Serpent buffeted with Satan and persecuted with Herod and how are you able to endure this saith they we are able then saith Christ again you stall indeed drink of the Cup that J drink of and be baptised with the baptisme that J am baptised with but to sit on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give but it shall be given to chem for whom it is prepared of my Father which is as much as to say you must suffer the losse of all things below or besides me and the way which I have gone you shall go the death which I have suffered you shall in some measure suffer and then having gon the way and suffered the death you wil say Father Glorifie thy Son that thy Son may Glorifie thee then wil he give you a crown of life which is laid up for you in the kingdom of heaven and as Paul saith J have run the race and obtained the price in Jesus Christ J have finished my cross henceforth is laid up for me a Crown of glory even the Lord and Christ himself saith that for the glory which was set before him he indured the crosse and despised the shame drunk his cup and received his Baptisme and after entred into his glory And thus he went before us as a pattern or an example for us but when we have obtained the Kingdom and received the Crown the kingdom being delivered up to the father we are not Christ is all unto God the onely one for we then are not our owne but we are Christs and Christ is Gods and so an union betwixt Christ and us and an union betwixt God and Christ into one entire and alone essence then is the Kingdome deliverd up unto God by Christ and then God the Father is as he was that is all in all and out of that all all came forth and into that all shall all be through Christ who is the strength of God be reduced into God and yet a visible appearance through the invisible and in him to appear this is one glimps of the mystery of the Divine Deity operative acting through it self in the illustration of it self which is wisdoms work and the Spirits teaching therefore let all flesh be silent before tke Lord for it is not he that heareth my words Saith Christ but he that doth my will he it is that is my disciple blessed for ever in the name of the Father Epist VII Concerning a word of exhortation to Christians to support the bruised Reed that the smoaking flax may be set on fire in these Gospel-times O How good a thing it is for Christians to walk close with God in that dispensation wherein he appeareth unto them in for no one can truly serve God out of that dispensation wherein he appeareth unto them therefore then to walk up to what they know and to judg others that are not under the same though there be several dispensations or administrations yet the same Lord though they may be severally acted yet all by one spirit if they be sincere and upright in heart and of a meek and quiet spirit who dwels in love otherwise they are but the world a Saint is known by one of the same spirit and disowned by the world for they love their own and the proof of a Saint is to show his strength in time of need that is to own all things that is of God and to bear with the weak brethren and to cherish that in them which is to be cherished and to offer up that to the fire which is to be burnt But how prone is man to be judging and condemning Man hath an eye and light in his day and he cannot forbear passing his judgment there upon things or persons the natural man wil be judging natural things and the spiritual man wil be judging spiritual things men wil be judging men Christians wil be judging Christians yea both wil be judging there is a day of man and the day of God man is judging in his day if there be not so much light as to make the day of the Lord appear in man it is but mans day and so the worthlesness of his judgment appears in Pauls account for saith he it is with me avery small thing that I should be judged of you or of mans judgment man cannot be more forward to judg me then I am to slight him in that action for mans judgment is too shallow to judg in spiritual things judg not saith Christ and he himself forbear judging I judg no man Iob 8 15. though if he had judged his judgment had been true vers 16. yet being not his time to judg though he was judg he could for bear his sentence until the proper season of it therfore saith Paul judg nothing before the time until the Lord come who wil both bring to light the hidden things of darkuess and wil make manifest the counsels of the heart therefore saith Paul With me it is a very small thing that J should be judged of you or of mans judgment yea I judg not mine own self 1 Cor. 4.3 Who art thou that indgest another mans servant to his own master he standeth or falleth or wherein thou iudgest another thou condemnest thy self it belongs to the Lord to be iudg for thou O man hast no more right to iudg thy fellow servant then he has to iudg thee therfore iudg nothing before the time in the things of God for he has kept his own light for his
own day which shall lay open the secrets of every mans heat therefore he that is under one discovery let him not iudg another that is under another discovery and let not them who serve God in dispensations iudg them in whom he wil be served above dispensations and so to limit and confine God how or where he shall appear or be served but as every one hath received of the gift of God so let them minister the same as good stewards of his manifold grace 1 Pet. 4.10 therfore note it is a gift which cannot be purchased by mony as human learning is which servs but for external things and cannot look into the internal as can the gift which is given even the spirit of truth which needeth not to be supported by human learning for it is supported by he that gives but human learning is made a cloak to cover ignorance and hypocrifie and to deceive the simple but when it is grown to the ful heighth it shal fal and then great Babylon shal fal and her mourners shal be many Therefore I pray you set no greater a price of it then what it is worth for when God called for Preachers he called Fishermen as was Peter and Shepheards as was Moses and David and Herdsmen as Amos and Elisha a Plowman Christ himself was call'd a Carpenter Paul a Tentmaker but he could speak Tongues being brought up at the feet of Gamaliel but for althat he was a persecutor of the church before his conversion therefore let not one sort of people have any preiudice against another for God wil cal whom he pleaseth and wil be honored where he pleaseth and can take of al sorts som to manifest his glory therfore be waiting upon God and ceasing from man whose breath is in his nostrils so fulfil the commands of Christ see that you love one another love al men even your enemies do good to them that hate you the God of love wil cover you when the storme shal fal upon the wicked O beloved did you but know how lovely you are being in love for love sheweth the deformity in all that is not in love but it is not seen but by loves own eye what an oneness there is in your selves being in love what an oneness in multiplicities being in love which wil set the smoaking Flax on a bright Flame wil kindle every little spark where it comes Love is that which ties all the Brethren in a knot God is love and he that dwelleth in that love dwelleth in God and God in him Herein is our love made perfect that we may have boldness in the day of Judgment because as he is so are we in this world 1 Joh. 4.16.17 FINIS If you our land would know wherin we overflow It is Canaan wherin the pleasant plants do grow Which from the root they yeeld their fruit now Of heavenly glory forth to show Not in notion but our portion which satisfits us Yea the Sun which is so transparent bright With its sarafic al light Power strength and might Which turns all the beholders into its right And puts an end to war and strife Which in Religions fight But in darkness not in light Wherein their actions attend to strife Which fruit doth show where it doth grow In human nature far below Which is a Hell to the creatures woe When the vials come where that doth grow Which shal scorch and blast That which man doth hold so fast Then mans teaching that shal fal Which hath long time stood like a wal Then Melchisedec a Preacher unto us shal be partition wal Jn perfect unitie So God who is our all by breaking down the Wil deliver Israel all from bondage and from thral So shal the light which is so bright Shine both far and neer Then perfect love shal cast out fear That we in heaven may appear With our glory in the Sphere Then for to be what at first we were Before in Creation we did appear That Christ in one may all then be Vnto eternity Then the pathment of our God in glory bright Always a day there is no night From that Imperial Throne Declares the glory of union Finis
THE SPIRIT OF GOD in MAN Making manifest the hidden things of DARKNESS to MAN Being divine Teachings whereby the Lord alone is exalted and the pride of fleshly glory discovered by the shining light of Christ in and through RICHARD RVSSEL 1 Joh. 1.3 That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that ye also may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the Father and the Son Iesus Christ Isai 60.1 Arise and shine for thy light is come and the glory of the Lord is risen Blow ye the Trumpet in Sion and sound an alarms in my holy Moutain let all the Inhabitants of the Land tremble for the day of the Lord cometh for it is nigh at hand LONDON Printed by T. Lock living in Seacole-Lane neer the Sign of the George 1654. The Epistle to the READER BEloved Brethren Spiritual things are given by Divine Inspiration not by the wil of Man but by the wil of God who manifests himself when he pleaseth and to whom he pleaseth And know this that Gods works are not like mans works he doth not always take the wise of this world and learned and rich of this world to manifest himself in and through but be chooseth the despised and the poor and weak of this world who are of a sincere minde zealous for God and God is pleased to fill them with the good things of himself when as the other seek him in darkness in the wisdom of man and by the Law as did Israel of old who sought earnestly but attained not to the true Vision and Kingdom of righteousness but went empty away therefore quench not the smoaking flax but rather wait until it be set on flame that it may kindle your spark so that there may bee light in your house for there is a wonderful time coming but because it beginneth in the night there are many that shal not see it by reason of their sleep and great darkness yet the Son wil shine to the Children at midnight happy are they whose eys are open to see the Son of GOD when he cometh in the clouds then every one that hath a single eye shal see the pleasant showers fall upon the tender plants that they may also have vertue in them to abide the heat of the day when the Son shal shine forth in its beauty to scorch the glory of all flesh therefore let every one that glorieth glory onely in the Lord for he that truly knows the Lord will do so for the knowledge of the Lord teacheth us wisdom and so saith the Prophet Isaiah The Lord is my God therefore wil I praise him for he knew God by his spirit which did set forth his praise in him therefore as thou readest herein consider whether thou hast the spirit of understanding without which thou canst not understand aright the things that belong unto thy peace So I commit thee unto the Lord who is able to guide thee unto the peace that passeth all understanding THE SPIRIT OF GOD in MAN Epistle I. Concerning what Man was and by Creation is and how he fel and also a word of the Divine Mysterie GOD which was is and for ever shal be a being in himself hath been pleased to declare the same in Creation of which Creation man is a chief part but before the Creation there was nothing but God no appearances were brought forth out of the one onely infinite and entire being who knows how harmoniously and sweetly with an entire love and oneness we tumbled together with in the womb of Eternity when all things were in union with their Original Centre Now when God was to create the world and all things therein he had no other materials or matter to make it of but his own being therefore God is the Essence of all Essences for all is generated or born created and proceeded from him and all things take their first beginning in God as the Scripture witnesseth saying Through him and in him are all things and all things were created by him and for him and by him all things consist Consider That God is a Spirit that is incomprehensible and was before appearances were brought forth by or in his essential Word and hath neither beginning nor end and his greatness and depth is all The whole Creation is but his unfolding of himself in his varieties and his cloathing himself in the creature in their created estate so that since this great fabrick of heaven and earth hath bin made to appear God hath ever been hiding himself hiding himself in his life being motions and operations so that no eye can see him or know what he does or what he means but that eye which is with him where he is This consider That every spirit seeth no further then into its Mother or Nature out of which it hath its Original and wherin it standeth for it is impossible for any spirit below the spirit of God in its own natural power to look into another principle and behold it except it be regenerated therein or brought forth anew Heaven and Earth at their first coming forth were but a vail behinde which God intended to hide himself and did hide himself even from Adam in his highest and purest estate God indeed showed himself to Adam as he appeared in the creature as he shined through the vail but hid himself as he was in himself so that Adam could in no wise reach to the true vision but only to such an appearance as God pleased to dart forth of himself through the vail Now confider when the breath of Lise was breathed into man or elementary birth it was out of Gods first principle then Man was a living soul in the heavenly Paradise wherein there was a state of Innocency being the morning time of man wherein was planted paradisical fruit which the garden Man should bring forth for God did make him a garden for his own delight to walk in and that the creature should delight in him and to acknowledge God to be his Maker and his all his life and only being to whose command he was to subject himself in all obedience meekness thankfulness love humility and mercy and so represent the glory of the Lord and to be like him if these things be in you and abound you shal not be unfruitful therefore let these things be applied to every one of our hearts in particular these prophesying times Again observe this that God foreknew that all created things are changeable therefore God made a Law to man forbidding him of eating of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil which is in the midst of the garden for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely dye and this is the Law and Covenant that I have made between me and thee that hast a being in creation by me This consider that man was made upright but he being let stand did putrifie and so sought out many inventions Eecles 7.29 so that
contrary are they but this distinction must not always last for when Christ comes forth to give up that principle of life in himself and to slay it in them whereby they have thus lived the leaves and fruit of variety and distinction wil soon wither and they will all return back into union and harmony again then shall the earth diselose her blood so Christ brings them both into one and takes them both with all their differences into his own Body and destroys all their differences and offers up all that God dislikes in them in his own Body on the Cross and so sweetly heals up the differences between God and the Creatures by his intire love unto them Epist III. Concerning seven dispensations which hath and shall be fulfilled in their end of time THe first dispensation was when God gave the Law to Adam as soon as he had made him as In the day thou eatest thou shalt die Now this Law it was holy just and good yet it was a killing word or the killing letter for it took hold on Adams disobedience and slew him so all Flesh died for all Flesh broke the Covenant in Adam and so all Humane Flesh was cast under that dispensation of death so every opposite estate wil seek to advance it self The second dispensation is in the first Promise or Manifestation of the Love of God to the creature and the Curse to the Serpent in these words The seed of the woman shall bruise the Scrpents head Gen. 3.15 22.18 and this continued from Adam til Abraham Then the third dispensation or discovery of God is more clear than the former for unto Abraham he speaks more particularly he doth not stil say in general terms the seed of the woman but in thy seed Abraham all Nations of the earth shal bee blessed and so points out more directly in what lineage and generation of Mankinde God would first appear in to bruise the Serpents head and this dispensation continued from Abraham to Moses and they imbraced the promises The fourth dispensation is from Moses till God manifested himself in the Flesh or till Jesus Christ was born of Mary who was one of the house of David and of the lineage of Abraham and this dispensation is more clear than the former for God by Types and Figures and Ceremonies and Shadows did manifest his love to his creatures and his wrath to the Serpent as we may understand when God appears in Johns Baptism or the Water Baptism which did much type forth the Baptism of the Spirit by Fire and the Holy Ghost which should refine and purifie them and saith John I must decrease or that administration I lived in but he that cometh after me which is Christ shal increase and shal baptize you with the Holy Ghost and also God did manifestly set forth his love by the Prophets in that dispensation for then was the shadow of the Law of Moses falling and Gospel-Truths rising whereby they should be the more ceasing from Man whose breath is in his Nostrils and so likewise the love of God did much appear when the sacrifice was slain and offered then God received an atonement it being a type of Gods in-dwelling in the Flesh or a shadow of Christ the Lamb the substances of all those sacrifices and I pray you consider those things which are spoken allegorically concerning Achan Josh 7.26 where it appears that when Achan that troubled Israel was put to death in the valley of Achor the fierceness of Gods wrath was turned away And in Hosea ch 2. v 14 15. where he saith I wil give the valley of Acher for a door of hope which was the place of Achans death so when the Serpent who is our trouble is subdued and killed in the valley of human flesh then the dispensation of mods anger is turned away The fifth dispensation is from the time that God was manifested in the flesh in the person of Iesus Christ to the time that he appeared in the flesh and person of his Saints likewise this also is more clear then the former for Iesus the annoynted was the substance of all those types and shadows of the Mosaical Law for now God doth manifestly appear to dwel in the flesh and by a manifest being to set the Creature free from bonbage and by Immortal life to swallow mort I beings into himself The sixth dispensation is from the time that God appeared in the flesh of the Saints till the perfect gathering up of the Elect which is the work of that dispensation which is called a Referrection day or a great day of Iudgment for so long as the Iudge sits upon the Iudgment seat it is the day of Iudgment which he doth in every dispensation until the time of the Restitution of all things both which are in heaven and which are on earth even in Christ Eph. 1.10 Rev 10.7 but in the dayes of the voice of the seventh Angel when he shal begin to sound the mystery of God should be finished as he hath declared to his servants the Prophets so Gor. i. 15.24 then cometh the end when he that is Christ shal have delivered up his Kingdom to God even the Father compared with Acts 3.21 and this also is more clear then the former as God appeared in Christ who is the root of the creation it was a sign of God the father appearing in the whole body for saith Christ I and the children that thou hast gave me for signes and wonders and according to his promise by Joel ch 2. v. 28. I wil powre out my spirit upon all Flesh c. the Apostles also finding the same in them selves bare witness to it Acts 2.16 And thus I give you a hint of the seventh dispensation when the Gospels declaration shall be fulfilled and we to be transformed and changed into the Heavenly Image whereby all things may be restored into the Indissolable band into the unity and peace of God which passeth all understanding of man and all wars to cease for so long as dispensations last and we under them we are at warts among our selves and with God also in one sense and a rechangable while we are under dispensations and are to be changed from glory to glory as God doth in Scripture declare seven great dispensations or discoveries of his counsel and will each one clearer then other yet in every one of these God doth send forth several other dispensations by the hand of Angels for the carrying on of the work of that time and season which are discoveries of his glory for whatsoever comes from God is a spiritual power and it may be said to be declared by angels as when God appeared in discoveries to his peopel an angel is said to appear unto them as to Joseph in a dream Zachariah in a vision unto Araham and Lot it is said Angels appeared and likewise he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet and they shall
the husbandmen think that by this husbandry the wheat wil be pulled up with the tares nay they think the wheat wil be destroyed and the tares nourished because they are unskilful of the work but the Lord is now resolved that the wheat shal spread and flourish and he wil come and sever the tares from the wheat and throw out those husbandmen with them into the Fire which beat his Servants and would have killed the Heir therefore their vineyard shal be taken away and given to another people therefore let all Flesh be silent before the Lord for he is raised up to make known his power for the proclaiming of Israels return and the captivity of his people Zach. 2.13 for the Lord wil build her again that hath been trodden down and plant her in the magnificents beauty of beauties in royal and adorative glory O my beloved my soul is ravished with the delightful delight defiring you may be gathered into union in the celestial centre in the bosom of the Father Epist V. Concerning a further discovery of Antichrist in man and of the Spirit of God in man discovering that Antichrist what he is and where he rules ANd every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God and this is that spirit of Antichrist whereof you have heard that it should come and even now already is in the world 1 Ioh. 4.3 Who hath known the minde of God the spiritual man that cannot but confess that Christ is come in the Flesh by his union that he hath with him in the spirit and is enlightened by the Resurrection from the dead whereby his works declare him that they are of the Father not onely in word but in power and demonstration of the Spirit whereby they abound in all goodness for so are the fruits of the Spirit as love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance against such there is no Law Gal. 5.23 Now who are they that confesseth not that Christ is come in the Flesh even they in whom the Spirit of Antichrft rules and is predominate in them whereby they bring forth the fruits of wickednesse by their own Beastial reason now who is an Antichrist even he that denieth the Father and the Son 1. John 2 22. and all that obey not the command of Christ which doth bring us unto God then Antichrist must be the unbeleeving Spirit that cannot confesse Christ by the fruits of the Spirit of God and by his mercies held forth in lesus Christ unto him in his creaturely estate this know whilest thou art in this dark ignorant polluted defild estate thou hast an Antichrist Devil false Prophet within thee as it doth appear by Peter when Christ said unto him Got the dehinde mee Satan for thou savorest not the things of God but of man then look no more for Anti-Christ abroad or at Rome but at home and do not thrust it off from one unto another and one country unto another Nation when indeed it is Antichrist his trade to keep our eyes without lest we should see his deceit within Antichrist is also the whore that holds forth ber Golden Cup ful of abomination and filthinesse of her fornication Rev. 17.4 which deceives the nations and wipes her mouth and said I have done no wrong when shee hath acted what shee can therefore tremble tremble tremble for the day of the Lord wil renounce the hidden things of dishonesty and the secrets of your hearts shal be laid open and you shal be as stubble for the Fire in that day then shal he shake every strong hold and your fortified places and your high towers yea he wil shake both heaven and earth both inwardly and outwardly so that there wil be no safety no where but in the Lord for he shal bee the hiding place until the indignation of the Lord be overpast that those things which cannot be shaken being himself may remain when he shal turn upside down and overturn all things that are not according to truth and strength and knowledg wisdom and power of Christ Jesus therefore weight diligently upon the Lord that hou maist be found in him not having thine own righteousnes but the righteousnes of Christ even the Lord our righteousnes therfore behold there is a wild Figtree that was a show of a goodly good tree afar off to dark eys but to com close to the Fig-tree you my brethren after the flesh wch vaunt your selvs in human learning brainwit then like the Fgtree are ye and are ful of beautious leaves without of expressions but to come to the fruit ye are carnal and devillish in action by the fruit ye shal know them if you are able to distinguish of fruits by the Spirit of God which shal try the spirits and the works of man of what sort they are Now there is but light and darkness in which man worketh in either light or darkness and this is the definition God is light and that light is love now Man in that love is in light and that onely light is Christ now as God is light the Devil is but darkness to that light now in darkness is hatred malice envy covetousness and the root of all bitterness which is the Devil therefore you that would be holy depart from these evils for it is the highway of the righteous to depart from iniquity Epist VI. Of an heavenly estate of things in the new Ierusalem in man and of the death of the Creature in an estate below God TO come close to the matter In a word it is this hel is called death or a conditon below life and this is twofold either a death far below the nature of God or a death of sorrows which is a condition far below the comforts and enjoyments of God now every man and woman as they are branches of Adam in the fall they have no purity in themselves and therefore in a hel far below the life and nature of God and likewise they are unavoydably subject to the sorrows of that death and have no power to deliver themselves out of that bondage for God is only our Redeemer and Deliverer therefore he sent his Son not to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved Joh. 3.17 Therefore it followeth clear that if men were capable of so much mercy being Gods creatures as to be delivered from the guilt of Sin and of Death which is one part of Hel or a condition below life eternal then wil they be capable to be delivered through the mercy of the same God from the sorrowes and pains that followeth sin both which God in his time wil deliver his Creation from Secondly the heavenly estate is to live unto God with the life of Christ in the knowledg thereof of his power and to know God to be his all in all to love his Enemies to do good to them that hate you and persecute you to