of purity and righteousness doth righteousness is righteous even as he is righteous 1 Joh. 3.7 So it is written without and so it is testified within by him that is born of God in whom the Seed remaineth which overcometh the wicked one bruiseth him and keepeth him under and the just live by the Faith which giveth victory over him A PREFACE TO THE EXPERIENCES IT hath pleased the Lord to unseal and open the Fountain of Life in the midst of his Heritage so that in his Light do they see Light and in his Life do they reap and enjoy Life And the precious Promises are fulfilled in the midst of them of sending the Comforter and pouring out of the Holy Spirit so that he that believeth out of his belly do flow rivers of living water Yea the Lord hath a vineyard of his own planting which he keepeth night and day lest any hurt it and watereth every moment O the streams of Life the streams of Love the streams of Grace the streams of Mercy the streams of Peace the streams of Joy and Consolation which flow from him into the Bosoms of his Children Indeed Grace and Mercy and Peace is multiplyed from God our Father in and through the Lord Jesus Christ daily insomuch as that saying of Christ to his disciples Joh. 14.26 27. is now fulfilled I say not that I will pray the Father for you for the Father himself loveth you c. the Father in his Love hath brought us to the Son and the Son in the same Love hath brought us back to the Father and now the Love flows from the Father in and through the Son most naturally and abundantly And where the heart is Circumcised and much forgiven there also Love returns back most truly and naturally So that the Lord our God in the Lord Jesus Christ is loved with all the heart and with all the Soul and nothing is thought too good to sacrifice to him nor any thing too much to suffer for him O the pure Love that Springs and Flows between the heavenly Father and the Spiritual Child The best love that is to be found in this world in the Men of this World is not worthy to be a shadow of it God is Love and his Children are of him and partake of and dwell in the same love though the enmity and highest Wisdom of this World know them not nor can know them even as it never could know the Children of the true Wisdom sormerly Now from this Fountain do not only issue Springs and Streams of Life to refresh our own hearts but testimonies concerning the Life which we feel and partake of and concerning our travels from the dark Land through the valley of tears where he who gave us Life was our well towards our resting place These many times Spring up in us for the sakes of others of which nature are the things which follow For not for my own sake did they Spring up in me at this time but to signify to others of the Mercy the Lord hath shewn me and the way wherein he hath led me and what he hath given me to taste of an experience in the way which will answer every true paalate every palate that is seasoned with life and with the true experience And having received them from the Lord for this very end to hold them forth to others in Love and tenderness of Spirit my heart is freely given up to him therein not aiming at any thing thereby but his glory singly and the good of such Souls to whom he shall please to extend favour and shew Mercy in opening the heavenly Mistery of Life and Salvation to them I have often said in my heart Who hath begotten me these Who would have said that Sarah should have given Children Suck My wound was deep and seemed incurable But blessed be the Lord who hath made known to me the Phisitian of value for whom no disease is too hard but he is able to cure sickness and to relieve and rescue all that are captived and oppressed by the Devil that come unto him and wait upon him in the way of his righteous judgments and most tender Mercies For after all my Religion and deep exercises and inward experiences and knowledg I came to such a less of what I once had that I sensibly felt I knew not the Lord and lay continually groaning and Mourning after him and deeply afflicted for want of him O the pure Light and precious Life and sweet presence of my God that my Soul wanted insomuch that my moisture was turned into the drought of summer and my bones grown dry and withered But at length the Lord in his goodness O blessed for ever be his name breathed upon the dry bones and I felt Life enter from him into me and the days of deep sorrow and distress were at length forgotten because a man-child was at length conceived and brought forth And now wher 's the Sack-Cloth Wher 's the Ashes Oh ther 's beauty in Life instead of the Ashes in the state without Life and the garment of praise instead of the Spirit of heaviness O Glory Glory to the binder up of the bruised and broken-hearted to the redemer of the captives to the repairer of the breaches to the builder up of the wasted and des laâ—e ones Glory to his tender Mercy Glory to his Grace Glory to his Love Glory to his Wisdom Glory to his Power for ever and ever Amen Some Experiences added I. Concerning the Seed of the Kingdom COncerning the Seed of the Kingdom this I have experienced that it consists not in words or notions of the Mind but is an inward thing an inward spiritual substance in the heart as real inwardly in its kind as other Seeds are outwardly in their kind and that being received by faith and taking root in man his heart his earth being ploughed up and prepared for it it groweth up inwardly and bringeth forth fruit inwardly as truly and really as any outward Seed doth outwardly This Seed is known by its contrariety and enmity against the Seed of the Serpent against all the Seeds of evil in the heart of Men it discovering them turning the mind from them and warning against them and bruising and overcoming them in all that receive it and let in its holy nature which as an holy leaven or salt worketh out that which is unholy and unrighteous dark and dead and seasoneth with Light with Life with Grace with the Holiness and Righteousness of truth II. Concerning the Souls Food The Souls Food is that which nourisheth it which is the same with that which giveth it Life Every word proceeding out of the mouth of God every motion every quickning every operation of his Spirit is living and nourisheth the Soul with Life which receiveth it and feedeth on it The spiritual Manna the spiritual water from the holy Well or Fountain the Milk of the word the flesh and bloud of the Son of the
fresh Life in him My flesh is Meat indeed and my â—loud is Drink indeed He that eateth my Flesh and drinketh my Bloud dwelleth in me and â—in him Joh. 6.55.56 We are of his Flesh and of his Bone said they that did eat his Flesh and drink his Bloud They that eat Christ the one bread are by that Food made partakers of his divine nature and become one bread for we being many are one bread as said the Apostle so that now they are no longer darkness but Light in the Lord. O the pure flesh and bloud of the immaculate Lamb O the incorruptible food which gives Life to the Soul O the living word O the milk of this word the Milk of the heavenly breast which nourisheth the babes but the bread the flesh the Bloud is stronger nourishment O how brightly might this be opened in the demonstration of Life to the spiritual ear and understanding but the carnal-minded are thick and gross being drowned in their own apprehensions and sense of the letter but having no sense of the mystery what it is mystically to Eat and Drink the Flesh and Bloud of Christ of him who is Life and gives Life and to dwell together with him in the one Spirit Light Life and Power eternal For with thee is the Fountain of Life in thy Light shall we see Light Psal 36.9 Oh blessed are they that can experimentally speak thus who know the Fountain of Life and dwell there where Light Shines more and more Ho every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters and he that hath no money come ye buy and Eat yea come buy Wine and Milk without money and without price Wherefore do ye spend Money for that which is not bread and your labour for that which satisfieth not hearken diligently unto me and Eat ye that which is good and let your soul delight it self in fatness Incline your ear and come unto me hear and your soul shall live and I will make an everlasting Covenant with you even the sure mercies of David Isa 55.1 2 3. Here 's happiness true happiness full happiness He that experiences this one portion of Scripture is happy He that knows the true thirst after the true waters and comes to the waters which he thirsts after and knows how to buy and hath bought the Wine and Milk which is to be had at the waters Oh who knows what this buying is This is beyond all talk and outward profession concerning he thing concerning the precious pearl this is the real hearty trafficking of the wise Merchant for it And then to hearken diligently and eat that which is good and to have the soul delight it self in the fatness of God's House in the riches and fatness of his Goodness and Mercy in Christ Jesus and not only to taste of Mercy but to witness it sure in the everlasting Covenant that God will never be wroth with me more never be a stranger to me more never depart from me more nor suffer me to depart from him but preserve me pure and chast to him through his love shed abroad in my heart and his holy fear which constrains me to abide with him and to keep his Commandments But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a Well of Water springing up into everlasting Life Joh. 4.14 Is not this an universal Promise to be made good to every one that drinks of the water of Life of the water that Christ gives Did not Christ promise it should be a Well a springing Well The Fountain is of a springing nature and is not every drop of the same nature of a living nature of a springing nature He that rightly drinks doth he not receive a Well O the Water which Christ giveth doth it not become a Well in the true disciple in the living disciple out of which Well the Water is still springing and flowing to nourish up with Life and unto Life even with Life of an everlasting nature and unto Life everlasting O the pure glory that is revealed in the Gospel-dispensation why is it so hid from mens eyes who profess themselves to know the Lord Jesus Christ and to be his disciples For the Life was manifested and we have seen it and bear witness and shew unto you that eternal Life which was with the Father and was manifested unto us 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 with his Son Jesus Christ 1 J h. 1. v. 2 3. This is precious to experience the Life inwardly manifested and to come out of death inwardly felt into Life inwardly manifested and so to come into the holy fellowship with the Father and Son and with the Saints in Light for he that comes out of the darkness into the Light comes out of the Fellowship of the dead into the Fellowship of the Living Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy-laden and I will give you rest Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest unto your souls For my Yoke is easy and my Burthen is light Mat. 11.28 29 30. This invitation of Christ was to be fulfilled in the hearts of his disciples it is precious inwardly to witness it effectually in the heart as really as ever it was spoken by him To be able to say in the evidence and demonstration of his Spirit It is true I did labour I was heavy-laden none could ease or help me till he called till he knocked at the door of my heart and till I came to him and received him in and he hath made good his word to my soul he hath given me rest from my labours and heavy Loads He hath laid his Yoke upon me and I have took it and born it and have learned of him to be meek and lowly in heart like him and I have found rest to my Soul And now I shall never complain more of his yoke or burthen he hath made it and doth daily make it so easy and light to me And we know that the Son of God is come and hath given us an understanding that we may know him that is true and we are in him that is true even in his Son Jesus Christ This is the true God and eternal Life 1 Joh. 5.20 There is an inward spiritual coming of the Son of God into the heart by which Coming to them that receive him he giveth a new and Spiritual understanding whereby they know him that is true and without it they cannot and are ingraffed into him a d found in him partaking of his Life and righteousness to the glory of God the Father and so in true understanding are able to say Lo this is the God this is the Saviour we waited for This is the true
living God his words which are spirit and Life nourish up the living birth unto life everlasting How comes man to live at first but by hearing the voice of him that giveth life And how comes man to live afterwards and to increase in life but by hearing the same voice still Encline your Ear and come unto me hear and your Soul shall live c. Isa 55.3 This I have always experienced to give me Life to nourish up and strengthen me in Life even fresh Life communicated from the living Fountain and so my life is not in my self not in any thing I can comprehend concerning Christ but in being joyned to him in being ingraffed into him the holy root into him the true Olive-tree into his Spirit and so by the sap that springs up into me from him my life is maintained and increased in me daily Glory to his name for ever III. Concerning God's Power Concerning God's Power this I have experienced that that is it which doth the Work in the Soul It begets to God it brings out of the land of darkness it leads through all the entanglements and preserves in the midst of them all It breaks down the old building of sin and iniquity both inwardly and outwardly both in heart and also in life and conversation and raiseth the new and holy building It makes willing it makes obedient it gives to believe it gives to suffer O blessed be the Lord for the day of his Power which is inwardly broken forth O what would the poor child do the poor Lambs in the midst of Wolves inwardly and outwardly were it not for the Father's hand the Father's arm the Father's Power which is still with them and compasseth them about O blessed are they that know the ministration of life inwardly the Power of Life inwardly For in Life in the Seed of Life is the Holy Power which is manifest appears and works as it gains ground on the Creature to put forth and exercise in it the virtue and strength which it daily receiveth from its Father IV. Concerning Temptation Concerning Temptations this I have experienced that the strength and hurt of them as to the Soul lies in the souls looking at them For the strength of God is revealed in his Children against the tempter which being patiently waited for and trusted in will never fail them The least babe the Lord would not have let in Temptation and Sin but watch to that and keep joyned to that which will preserve out of the Temptation and out of the Sin God is faithful who hath care of all his and whose Promise is to all his and as he would have none sin so none that diligently wait shall want his Power to stand by them to preserve out of sin Look unto me and be saved all the ends of the Earth It 's universally true Look unto me trust in me look not at your selves trust not in your selves look not at the enemy fear not the enemy I will save you from every snare every Temptation as your eye is steadfast upon me What if the enemy come in like a floud if the Spirit of the Lord lift up a standard against him can he prevail what though he cast fiery darts What though he be set round about Will not the shield of Faith quench them all Will not the whole Armour of God defend and keep safe from them all If the enemy be resisted lawfully that is in true Faith in that Power which is engaged for the Soul against him Doth not the Power of the Lord arise and scatter him and strengthen and establish the Soul in the Grace and in the Truth O the holy mistery of the heavenly Warfare and of the working of the pure Power against the enemy which overcomes all his impurities and keeps clean from them Look not at the enemy let not in the reasonings of the Mind keep in thy patience keep in the pure fear in the holy living sense be only what thou art in the seed in the new birth in the Life which God hath begotten in thee then art thou safe then art thou in the name of the Lord which is the strong Tower The enemy indeed may make a noise about thee with his lusts with his temptations with his flouds with his storms with his fiery darts but he cannot enter thy habitatation The Spirit of darkness the Prince of darkness is shut out of the Land and Light of the Living Abide thou there dwell in the Light and walk in the Light as God is in the Light and he shall never have power over thee V. Concerning Prayer I have experienced Prayer to be the breathing of that birth which God begets to the Father of Life which begat it who by his Spirit makes known to it its Condition and wants and gives a suitable sense of heart and cries to it For as it is not in man to beget himself to God no more can he pray to God in his own will or time but as God pours out the Spirit of Prayer and Supplication upon him and by his Spirit teacheth and helpeth him to pray as he ought Because ye are Sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts crying Abba Father I have had a sense of the natural man and of the spiritual man and of the Cryes and Prayers of each and this I have been taught and learned of God that the Gospel-Prayer is the Prayer of that birth which is begotten by the Spirit and Power of the Gospel and which prays in the Spirit and in the springings of the holy Life and Power whereby it rightly wrestles and prevails with God obtaining the Mercies and Blessings which it wrestles with him for For to this Child there is access to God in the Faith through that holy Spirit of Life which makes way for it to obtain Grace and Mercy in the time of need And through this Spirit it prays to God and prevails with him on the behalf of others also For the Prayers of the righteous avail much as it is written VI. Concerning Justification and Sanctification some things which it hath pleased the Lord in his tender Mercy to give me to experience First That it is the same Christ the same Spirit the same Life the same Wisdom the same Power the same Goodness Love and Mercy the same Water the same Blood which both justifies and sanctifies Secondly That Justification and Sanctification go hand in hand together There is none Justified but he that is in measure Sanctified and there is none Sanctified but he that is in measure Justified For God Justifieth by a rule by the new Covenant and according to the Law thereof And men receive and partake of Justification according as they are brought into and keep within the compass of that rule For God acted of old toward and Justified the children of the old Covenant according to the Law thereof and the Children of the new Covenant are Justified
and partake of Justification according to the Law thereof Thirdly That Justification and Sanctification are both of and through Grace It s so in the beginning and it is so all along By grace ye are saved saith the Apostle The whole work of Salvation is began and carried on through Grace It is through that God visits and reaches to the Soul with his quickening Vertue and Power He regenerates also thereby Through that he Just fies Through that he Sanctifies c. So that as the work goes on Grace Grace is to be cryed for to him that does the work from his very laying the Foundation and fastning the Soul thereupon to his very laying on of the top-stone Fourthly Though Justification and Sanctification be of God's Grace and Mercy in Christ yet this doth not exclude Faith but they are also through Faith and not without it God doth not Justify man in the unbelieving state in the dead state in his abiding there but in the coming out of it in the repenting and turning from the dead works to the living God and in believing in him and so he also Sanctifies him Fifthly Faith and Obedience are of the same nature and always go together So that wherever there is Faith there is Obedience likewise and wherever there is Obedience there is Faith Obedience flows from Faith and cannot be without it for the very nature and vertue of Faith is in it And Faith is Obedience For this is the command of God that the soul believe on him and in his appearances whom he hath sent to save and this Believing is Obedience unto him that commands it And this Faith and this Obedience is Holy and Just in God's sight and through it but not without it the Soul is the both Justified and Sanctified Sixtly That the works of Faith the works of the new Life are not the works of the Law the works of the old Covenant nor are excluded Justification as the Works of the old Covenant are For I have found the Lord who hath condemned and excluded all my doings which ever I have been able to do of my self still Justify and accept what his Spirit and Holy Power hath done in me They are not of the same nature in themselves nor are they so accounted of in the eye of the Lord. For the Lord distinguisheth between root and root and what springeth from the holy Root he Justifieth as holy and what ariseth from the unholy root he condemneth as unholy Seventhly That by the Law of Faith all boasting is excluded in the whole work both of Justification and Sanctification What is the Law of Faith Is not this its Law to fetch all from the Son to do all in the Son to quit self and its own ability and to perform all in the newness of the Spirit in the ability which is of God given and continued in and through his Grace and Mercy to the Soul in the Lord Jesus Christ All the veins of Life all the strains of the new Covenant run here Here is no boasting of the Creature here can be no boasting for all its ability and strength is shut out and that which is given of God to it is all and doth all Yet every Jew here hath praise of God His Faith is commended his Love is commended his Faithfulness is commended his Zeal for the Lord his Obedience to the Lord his Patience in suffering is commended c. but the praise and honour of all redounds not to his flesh but to the Spirit and Grace of God in him So that here flesh is laid low and kept in the dust for ever and God alone exalted in this day of his pure power in the heart He that truly believeth entreth into rest How into rest From what doth he rest Why from his own works from the works of the flesh yea from the Works of the Old Covenant from the Works that arise from his own ability from the works wherein he can never be Justified with the Gospel-Justification But doth he cease from the works of Faith doth he cease from the Labour of Love doth he cease from Obedience to any thing that God requires Nay then surely he rather beginneth to work and labour in the Vine-yard and his labour is not in vain in the Lord. VII Concerning Faith Several things I have experienced both concerning the nature vertue and operations of it some whereof as I feel them spring up livingly in my heart I may mention at this time First This I have often experienced that it is an hard thing truly and rightly to believe It is an easy matter to believe notions concerning God and concerning Christ but to believe in God to believe in Christ to believe in him that raised up Jesus to believe in the Light Life and Power which flows from Jesus this indeed is hard by reason of the great Darkness and Ignorance which man is faln into through transgression Secondly I have experienced this also that Faith is God's gift and that it flows from the power of his Life There is first a quickening first a touching of the heart by the holy pure Power of the Lord and when a man is touched and quickened then in and by and through that vertue which flows into him he can believe in that which toucheth and quickneth him Thirdly That Faith never stands in a mans own power but alwayes in the vertue and power of the life of the Son So that he that will believe aright must wait to feel the Life of the Son revealed in him and Faith flowing therefrom For the true belief springs from the Life of the holy root and from the flowing up and springing up of that Life Faith receives its nourishment and daily vertue Fourthly I have observed this in my travels that the Earthly Wisdom and Notions there from got into the Mind and held in the Mind out of the sense of life are a great let to Faith For these strengthen and nourish that in man which is to be weakned and die that Life and the birth of life may be all in the heart Man is to die man is to be ceased from his understanding his Wisdom is to be brought to nought But after it hath had a stroke and wound from God's holy Spirit and Power even the very wound which tends to death yet it will be getting Life again getting its deadly wound healed and nourishing its Life by those very notions which came from that Life and Power which in measure slew it And thus the Jew outward hath his Life in the outwardness of knowledg in the outwardness of the Law in the letter which killeth for the relation and outward knowledg of things killeth and deadneth more and more unless man come into the inward Life and Vertue and daily feel them quickned there If ye live in the Spirit walk in the Spirit said the Apostle A man cannot live in an outwardness of knowledg concerning the Spirit and Power of
Is the Wall of partition broken down in thee is there of twain made one new man Dost thou feel that which is contrary to Christ subdued in thee by his power and his holy nature Life and Spirit reigning over it Canst thou read that Scripture sensibly and experimentially If ye through the Spirit mortify the deeds of the body ye shall live Ah how miserably do men talk of Christ the Power of God and miss of the effect and work of his Power in them Faith is a powerful thing it gives victory true Faith gives victory it scatters that which stands between and gives real access to God and lets in his pure fresh living Vertue upon the heart Love is a powerful thing it constrains to Obedience and the heart that is circumcised to love the Lord God O how doth Life flow from him into it O away with empty notions and come to the ministration of the Spirit where the Knowledg is living the Faith victorious the Love pure and undefiled the Worship truly spiritual even flowing from and comprehended in the Life and Vertue of the Spirit O that all that truly breath after the Lord might be gathered hither found here and dwell here Amen A POST-SCRIPT To the Experiences PErsons that have had some true touches of Life and true breathings after the Lord yet not having their eye fixed rightly upon him nor discerning from whence those come may easily lose the true sense of Life and another birth of another nature spring up in them instead thereof This was it we generally wanted in the day of our former profession even the discerning of that and fixing upon that which begat Life in us through want whereof many of the most tender-hearted came to a loss whom the Lord at length shewed mercy to manifesting to them the Light of their eyes and the stay of their Souls Now to all that have been gathered hither by the Lord Life hath been renewed and their former experiences of the Lord and his goodness to them in the Lord Jesus Christ restored again with advantage And here they sensibly see and daily experience that nothing is of their own works but all of Grace and Mercy in and through Christ in whom they are created unto good works which God before ordained that we should walk in them And here the glory is revealed the glory of Life the glory oâ— Peace with the Lord the glory of R ghteousness in and through his Son he glory oâ— Victory over the Sâ—â—â— enemies and of leading captivity cap◠〈◊〉 treading upon the Necks of Kings even of mighty lusts which mightily revailed over and oppressed the Soul before the Capâ—ain of our Salvation appeared in the power and authority of his own Spirit But blessed be the Lord there is not only this Glory revealed but there is a defence over the Glory For there is that revealed which is able to defend it and doth defend it in the hearts of many and in the living assemblies which have been gathered by God's Holy Power which holy Power which gathered daily quickens and overshadows and is a rock unto and will be so for ever even to all that abide with him in his Holy Covenant but out of the limits of that into which God gathers and wherein and whereby he preserves there is no defence to any The cursed thing the unclean thing the earthly Spirit the earthly Mind and Wisdom the Lord hath excluded and it is to be excluded out of his camp for evermore that the inward Israel may be kept holy to the Lord and may serve and worship the Lord in the beauty of the inward holiness as the outward Israel was outwardly to be and to do in that outward ministration of the shadows of the Gospel-state Some Scriptures very sweet and necessary to be experienced in the Gospel-State This is Life eternal that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent Joh. 17.3 There is a knowledg of God and Christ which is Life eternal and there is a knowledg of them or at least that which man call so which is not Life eternal The knowledg which is Life Eternal is that knowledg which God gives to his own birth even the spiritual knowledg which God gives to those which are born of the Spirit which is the knowledg of the mystery of God and of Christ in the mistery inwardly appearing and working in the heart against the mystery of Sin and death O precious is the birth to which God gives this this knowledg and precious is the knowledg which he giveth to it The knowledg or that which Men call knowledg which is not life eternal is that knowledg which man can get and comprehend from without of himself without the enlightnings and quicknings of God's Holy Spirit and Power inwardly felt and operating in the heart No man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the holy Ghost 1 Cor. 12.3 It is precious to witness that confessing and acknowledging Jesus to be the Lord which is by the Holy Ghost For only they that are governed by the Holy Ghost can so confess him The Devil did confess Jesus to be the holy one the Son of the living God c. and many now confess Jesus to be Lord in the same Spirit being alienated from the Life of God and having no true sense or understanding of that But there is a confession which cannot arise but from God's Spirit and from the knowledg sense and understanding which he gives blessed are they that experience that It is written in the prophets and they shall be all taught of God Every man therefore that hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me Joh. 6.45 Ah blessed is he that can in time understanding say The Lord hath made good this Prâ—â—se to me He is become my Teacher I have heard his voice as truly and certainly inwardly in my heart as ever I heard the voice of Satan here He hath revealed his Son his pure holy living Child Jesus in me He hath drawn me to his Son he hath taught me to come to his Son and indeed so soon as ever I heard and learned of the Father I could not but come to the Son and receive the Son and and give up my self to him and he hath received me and daily preserveth me from death and the sting and power thereof and giveth unto me Eternal L fe He that hath the Son hath Life and he that hath not the Son hath not Life 1 Joh. 5.12 Ah this is abundantly experienced blessed be the name of the Lord Many who had not life while they had not the Son but mourned and lamented deeply after him the Spirit of the Lord being grieved in them and his life not possessed by them the Father revealing his Son in them and giving him to them and they enjoying and possessing him feel that they are daily in the enjoyment and possession of pure and
or very God and Eternal Life What are all notions about God and about his Son Christ Jesus to this inward sense and experience of them God who commanded the Light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledg of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ 2. Cor. 4.6 O how precious is it to be able to witness this in measure to experience God shining upon my tabernacle as Job speaks Job 29.2 3 and by his Light my walking through darkness It is true Christ was the Light he had the fulness of Light and the Apostles a very great proportion but blessed be the Lord I have received some and am changed by it and become light in the Lord and walk with God and dwell with God in the light even as he is Light and dwels and walks in the Light Is not this a blessed testimony and is not he blessed who can set his seal to it Which veil is done away in Christ 1 Cor. 3.14 It was promised of old that in the mountain where God would make the Feast of fat things he would destroy swallow up or do away the veil or that which veils the Life and Glory of the Lord from man and hinders it from being revealed in him Isa 25.6.7 Now in Christ there is no veil In his Light Life Spirit and Power there is no veil Where they are inwardly manifested and received the veil is done away and the glory of the mystery revealed and beheld If ye continue in my Word then are ye my disciples indeed and ye shall know the truth the truth shall make you free Joh. 8.31 32. What is this word which the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ are to continue in Is it any less than Spirit and life And wh t is it to be a disciple indeed but to learn the Law of Life at his mouth and to continue therein And what is the truth which makes free Is it not the living truth the word which lives and abides for ever the powerful truth the operative truth This cuts between a man and his lovers this divides between Soul and Spirit Joints and marrow and makes the Soul free from that evil Spirit which had embondaged it It Sanctifieth it cleanseth it reneweth it quickneth it giveth strength it maketh free from the Souls enemies from the bondage of sin and corruption and brings into the glorious liberty of the Sons of God And they that are made free from sin by that which is contrary to â—n and which subdues overcomes and destroys sin they doubtless are free indeed O precious is it to experience this even the truth that is free from sin and makes free from sin all that truly know it and are joyned to it and live and abide in it For sin shall not have dominion over you for ye are not under the Law but under grace Rom. 6.14 What 's the Law What 's the ministration of the Law Is it not the ministration of the letter of that which is holy and righteous by an outward or litteral Command What 's Grace Is it not the inward teacher which inwardly instructeth to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live Soberly Righteously and Godlily c. Is it not the ministration of the Spirit and Power Is it not the ministration of the new Covenant where the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus is written in the heart and the commandement of Life made easy by the power of the Lord Jesus who manifests himself within to makâ— willing unto and to strengthen to obedience Now they that are under this Grace under this Spirit under this Power doth it not break the power and dominion of sin in them and set them free therefrom Can sin break in upon those who dwell under the shadow of the Almighty Indeed a man may be under a literal dispensation of holy Commands against sin and yet be under the power of Sin but he that is gathered under the wing of Christ under the Grace and Spirit of the Gospel turned from Satans power to God's Power and within the Wall and Bulwark thereof he witnesseth this true Sin hath not Dominion Sin cannot have Dominion Sin shall not have Dominion over you no device of the enemy shall be able to hurt or destroy on Gods holy Mountain for his Light shines there to dispel the darkness and his power is revealed there to scatter and dash in pieces the strength of the enemy whenever it appears Vpon all the glory shall be a defence Isa 4.5 O the Lord God by the Spirit and Power of the Gospel in the day thereof is bringing many Sons to Glory into Great Inward Spiritual Glory yea into exceeding Glory For the ministration of the Spirit exceeds in glory And as God hath ordained this glorious ministration for his Sons and daughters under the New Covenant so by the Spirit and Power of the New Covenant when it breaks forth he is daily working translating and changing them out of the earthly nature and image into his own divine nature into his own heavenly Glory 2 Cor. 3.18 And blessed be the Lord the defence of his power is spread over the glory of his holy Mountain so that nothing can make a prey of or devour the birth of life or deprive of the inheritance of Life there The Lord doth not only give a blessed lot and lines in pleasant places but he maintains the lot of his Children so that they can dwell in their Fathers House and feed on the Heavenly Food and rich dainties of the Kingdom in the majesty of the name of the Lord their God which is such a dread unto the enemies and such a defence about them as none can make afraid but they are kept in perfect Peace in perfect rest in pure Love out of which Life springs and flows continually And in that day thou shalt say O Lord I will praise thee though thou wast angry with me thine anger is turned away and thou comfortest me Behold God is my Salvation I will trust and not be afraid for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and Song he also is become my Salvation Therefore with Joy shall ye draw water out of the Wells of Salvation Isa 12.1 2 3. O precious to witness the inward Spiritual day of redemption and deliverance wherein praises from a living sense naturally spring up to the Lord To witness the reproofs at an end the anger indignation trouble and sorrow at an end and the comforter come ministring Peace Joy and Comfort to the Soul Ah when the Lord is felt the Salvation his pesence his Power his Life his Vertue the Salvation when Faith springs towards him and the fear of the enemy or concerning the enemy is banished when he is experienced to be the Soul 's daily strength against him yea and doth so deliver that instead of the former fear because of the fury and oppression of the
enemy the Soul can now sing because of that strength and heavenly authority which the Lord putteth forth and exerciseth in the heare against him When the Well of Life the Well of Salvation the Saviours Well is kept open and the Philistins the uncircumcised Spirit Power and nature cast out that they can stop it no more but the soul can draw the water of Life out of the Well and Fountain of Life with Joy Ah then the Gospel-dispensation is indeed known and the blessed estate thereof witnessed and experienced I counsel thee to buy of me Gold tryed in the Fire that thou mayest be rich and white raiment that thou mayest be cloathed and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear and anoint thine eyes with eye-salve that thou mayst see Rev. 3.18 What is the Gold tryed in the fire which man is to buy of Christ that he may be made rich therewith What is the white raiment which the soul is to be clothed with without which it is naked in God's sight and in the sight of the truly discerning and there is a time when the shame of its nakedness will appear more generally as it doth already to the eye of the spiritual man who Judgeth all things What is the eye-salve wherewith the eye is to be anointed or it cannot see Is it not precious to purchase this Gold and Raiment of Christ and to have this eye-salve to anoint the eye with and to keep it open that it may daily see its way and walk in the Light of the Lord Certainly this is all inward and Spiritual as a remnant witness it this day Glory to the Lord God But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you and ye need not that any man teach you But as the same anointing teacheth you of all things and is truth and is no lie and even as it hath taught you ye shall abide in him 1 Joh. 2.27 The outward anointing was a shadow of the inward and had a glory in it under the dispensation of the Law and the inward anointing in the Gospel-dispensation is Spiritual and Divine and exceeding glorious Christ the anointed one anoints all his No being a Son without being begotten by the Spirit and Power of the Father and no abiding a Son but by the Virtue and Power of the same Spirit remaining in and with the Soul so that every Son receives of the anointing of the Father Christ received the Spirit the fulness that he might give to them a proportion Now to experience this anointing and to experience it abiding and teaching all things and to know this voice the voice of the Sheepherd the voice of the anointing which the Sheep still finds to be true and no lye and to abide in the Vine in the Life in the Spirit in the Power as this Spirit or Anointing teacheth Oh here 's the sweet state the clear state the blessed state Here the Promises and Blessings are Yea and Amen in Christ and the Soul can say He is Faithful and Just who hath Promised who hath opened the treasures of Life to his Family to his House to his Children to his Servants and blesseth them with all Spiritual blessings in heavenly things in Christ Surely his Salvation is nigh them that fear him that Glory may dwell in our Land Mercy and Truth are met Righteousness and Peace have kissed Truth shall spring out of the earth and Righteousness shall look down from heaven Yea the Lord shall give that which is good and our Land shall yield her increase Righteousness shall go before him and shall set us in the way of his steps Psal 85.9 to the end Is it not precious to witness that fear of God in the heart to which Salvation is nigh and the Land wherein Glory dwells Where Mercy and Truth meet Righteousness and Peace kiss Where Truth springs out of the Earth and Righteousness looks down from Heaven Where God gives that which is good and the Land of the Living yields the increase of Life to him Where righteousness goes before him and he sets his in the way of his steps Where the Lamb goes before and the way is not known but as the Lamb goes before and leads into it Where God is the Sheepherd and the Soul doth not want because he maketh it to lie down in pastures of tender grass and leadeth by the waters of quietness where it drinks of the brook in the way and in the paths of righteousness for his names sake see Psal 23. Is there not a Kingdom of darkness a Land of iniquity inwardly and do not they they that dwell here and sit there dwell in darkness and sit in the region and shadow of death And is there not a travel out of this Land into the holy Land the Land of Light the Land of the Living and a translation out of this Kingdom into the Kingdom of the dear Son And is not God the Sheepherd there Christ the Bishop of the Soul there and doth not he oversee and take care of souls there leading them into fresh pastures and by the soft flowing waters Is not Salvation nigh there yea round about that Land doth not Mercy and Truth meet there Righteousness and Peace kiss there yea doth not the glory of the most high dwell in and overshadow that Land Is not the eye of the Lord upon it for good from one end of the year to the other doth not he watch over it night and day that none hurt it and water it in the proper seasons O who can utter the Goodness and Glory of the Lord which is revealed and shines here Rev. 3.20 Behold I stand at the door and knock if any man hear my voice and open the door I will come in to him and will sup with him and he with me Here are several things which in their order and seasons the living come to a certain and sensible experience of As first Christs standing at the door and knocking What is the door at which he stands and how doth he knock How doth the contrary Spirit knock how doth his Spirit knock Secondly What is his Voice and how is his Voice heard To hear Wisdoms cry within in the inward streets his call at the door at which he would enter Must not the true ear in some measure be opened first Can any one hear without an ear Thirdly What it is to open the door there is a door-keepers state to be witnessed and the right door-keeper knows how to open and how to shut the door and is exercised in opening and shutting the door The King of glory is to be opened to and let in but no wolf no stranger no strange Spirit is to be hearkned or opened to Fourthly What Christ's coming in is at the door opened to him When he knocks would he not come in Would he stand alwayes at the door knocking Nay nay when the door is opened at which he knocks he who is the
are born of the Heavenly Womb who indeed alone can rightly plead for and justifie their Mother in this day of great strife and contention about the Kingdom and right Heir thereof I say having this sense on my heart and these things naturally springing up and opening in me upon this occasion I was drawn in love and in the motion of life thus to give them forth to others hoping that the Lord may thereby open the minds of some towards and confirm the minds of others in the sense and belief of the Truth and the inward manifestation of his Spirit which discovers and strives against the darkness lusts and corruptions in them The Lord give People the sense of the strivings and reproofs of his holy Spirit inwardly in their hearts and joyn their spirits thereto that they may receive Light Life Vertue and Strength from his holy Spirit and thereby witness the overcoming and keeping under the enemy of their souls that they may know what it is to have the seed of the Woman bruise the Serpents head in their own particulars that so the holy Child Jesus may be exalted his Horn exalted in them and he may reign and exercise his Government in them and they may become Kings and Priests to God and reign in him over all that his Power is ordained to break and keep under yea utterly consume and destroy in the hearts of those that submit themselves willingly to him and walk in the Light and Leadings of his holy Spirit Amen NAKED TRUTH OR Truth manifesting it self in several Particulars for the removing of Hinderances c. Given forth by way of Question and Answer I. Concerning understanding the Holy Scriptures truly and aright Quest WHether the Scriptures can be understood aright without the Light of God's holy Spirit shining inwardly in the heart and giving the true understanding of them Answ No not possibly for as the outward eye cannot possibly see without the shining of some outward Light no more can the inward Eye see without the shining of the inward Light God who commanded Light to shine out of darkness causeth the Light of his Spirit to shine in the hearts of People according to his holy pleasure and thereby they come to see God seeth all things in his own Light in the light of his own pure eternal Spirit and in his Light do the Children of Light see Light The things of Gods Kingdom are holy Mysteries and the words which he speaks concerning those holy Mysteries none can understand but as he pleaseth to open and reveal them He hath given us an understanding to know him that is true 1 Joh. 5.20 The Inspiration of the Almighty giveth understanding Job 32.8 without which Man is dead and can neither hear nor see nor understand any of the things of God's Kingdom II. Concerning the Illuminating Spirit and Sanctifying Spirit Quest Whether the Illuminating and Sanctifying Spirit be one and the same Spirit or no Because it is affirmed by some and written by one to me as a sound distinction of Divines which distinction he saith he hath a mind I should learn that there is a Spirit of Sanctification and that is peculiar to the Godly and there is a Spirit illuminating and that is oft vouchsafed to the wicked as it was to Balaam Answ The Spirit which illuminateth and the Spirit which sanctifieth is one and the same Spirit and the illumination of the Spirit is in order unto Sanctification The same Light which discovereth the Darkness also chaseth away the Darkness as it is received and subjected to and purifieth the mind for the Light hath not only a property of enlightening but also of cleansing and sanctifying And the reason why Men are not changed justified and sanctified in and by the Light is because they love it not and bring not their hearts and deeds to it and so it is their reprover and condemner and not their Justifier and Sanctifier But the same Spirit Light and Life which Enlighteneth also Sanctifieth and there is not another III. Concerning the holy Spirit of God and the holy Scriptures Quest Whether they be alwayes joyned or some may have the Spirit who have not the Scriptures and some may have the Scriptures who have not the Spirit Answ The holy Spirit of God and the holy Scriptures are not always joyned together for some in the dark corners of the Earth may be visited by the Spirit become sensible of the Spirit and receive the Spirit who never heard of the Scriptures and many may have the Scriptures and yet be very ignorant of and strangers to Gods holy Spirit as the Jews were who had them read in their Synagogues every Sabbath day and yet Christ told them you neither know the Scriptures nor the Power of God IV. Concerning the Law of the Lord which is perfect and which converts the Soul Quest What is the Law of the Lord which is perfect and converts the Soul is it the outward Law or Writing in the Letter or the inward Law and Writing in the Spirit Answ No Man is or ever was or ever can be converted to God from the inward Law of Sin and Death but by the inward Law of Life and Righteousness written in his heart And I am sure that Law is perfect The New-Covenant is perfect and the Law thereof perfect the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus perfect which converts the mind to Christ the Righteousness of God and sets it free from the Law of Sin and Death And David was a spiritual Man and knew the inward Covenant and the inward creating of the heart a new and Gods holy and free Spirit and the Law and Testimony thereof I will grant a great deal to the Letter and ministration outward but I must attribute more to the inward or else Gods Light and the holy Experience which he hath given me will condemn me And as the Jew outward had the Law and Testimony and Statutes outward so I am sure the true Jew the Jew inward hath the Law and Testimony and Statutes inward written in his heart by the finger of Gods Spirit yea and the same Spirit put within him to cause him to keep this Law and the holy Testimony Statutes and Judgments of the Lord and the spiritual Jacob and Israel of God in this the day of their Redemption and Salvation from on high do follow the Lamb whithersoever he goes and walk in the Light of the Lord. V. Concerning David's longings exprest in Psal 42. Psal 43. and Psal 119. and other places Quest Were Davids longings more after the Law outward or after the Law and Light of Gods Spirit inward Answ David was a man after Gods own heart a man that knew an inward and clean heart of Gods creating and knew the free Spirit of the Lord and the fresh springing Life thereof and the leadings of the pure living Truth inwardly in his heart and this was it he most especially prized and longed after
the true holiness up and down in several professions but there is no real holiness to be found nor righteousnes neither but in the trees of Gods planting in the branches which are by him ingraffed into the true Vine and Olive-tree whose strength of vertue and holiness lies in the lap which they daily receive from him XVIII Concerning Christs works outwardly in the days of his flesh and inwardly in the day and inward shining of the light of his spirit in the heart Quest Which are greater the works which Christ did outwardly on the Bodies of men in the days of his flesh or which he doth inwardly in mens Minds and Spirits by the powerful appearance and operation of his Spirit because Christ said the works that he did those that believed on him should do and greater also because he went to the Father Joh. 14.12 Answ Doubtless to reach to the Soul and quicken the Soul and raise the Soul out of the grave of death and cure the blindness deafness hardness and diseases of the soul is greater than the outward and was signified by the outward XIX Concerning the yoke or cross of Christ Quest What is the yoke or cross of Christ Answ It is inward as that which is to be crucified is chiefly inward It is that gift of God that light of his Spirit which is contrary to the darkness contrary to all that is corrupt which wills against it and wars against it and being received subjected to and born patiently takes away the life of the flesh the will and wisdom of the flesh and all the subtile reasonings and devices of the fleshly part and so that languishes and dies and Gods plant is eased of it and the soul abiding under this cross comes into the true pure and perfect liberty where it hath scope unto holiness freedom unto righteousness and is in strait bonds and holy chains from all liberty to the flesh and from all unholiness and unrighteousness of every kind XX. Concerning making our Calling and Election sure Quest How may a man make his Calling and Election sure Answ By making the gift of God sure to him by making that sure to him wherein the Calling and Election is For the choice is of the seed the holy seed the inward seed the seed of Gods Spirit and of the creature as joyned to the seed God would have none to perish but would have all come to the knowledg of Christ the Truth who is the seed in whom the Election stands and his holy advice to men is whom he begins to call and to lead towards the Election To make their Calling and Election sure So that the way of making the Calling and Election sure is to make the gift sure the seed sure the leaven sure the pearl sure which God will never reject nor any that are found in true union with it and in the love and obedience of it O therefore as God visits with power with his powerful gift and as thou receivest power dominion and authority over sin for in this gift is God's dominion and authority revealed be faithful to the gift be faithful to the power give up to the truth in the inward parts come into it dwell in it that thou mayst feel its vertue and delivering nature from every enslaving and embondaging thing and then stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ the Lord by the life vertue and power of his truth sets thee free And so here thou wilt read thy Calling and read thy Election day by day and find them sealed and sure to thee in that truth in that gift in that Heavenly Light in that holy seed which came from God and is of him and which he delights to own and will never reject XXI Concerning Prayer Quest Which is the true Prayer Answ The breathings which arise from the true birth from the living sense which God gives to the true birth that is the true prayer There is a spirit of prayer and supplication given by God to his children to wrestle and prevail with him by All prayer that arises from and is given by that Spirit is true prayer all other prayer is not right and true but at best but an imitation of the true We know not what to pray for as we ought but the Spirit maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered Mark the very groanings that come from Gods Spirit from his breathing and work upon the heart are right prayers in Gods sight but other sighs and groans are not so XXII Concerning Repentance Quest Which is the true Repentance Answ That which Christ gives whom God hath exalted to be the Prince and Saviour to give Repentance and forgiveness of sins Acts 5.31 It is not in man's power to repent his heart is hard and impenitent It is God's power which melteth tendereth and changeth the heart So that there is a great difference between the sense and sorrow of mans nature and the sense and sorrow which God gives to the heart which he renews and changes The one is of an earthly the other of a heavenly nature The one is like the early dew or morning cloud it soon passeth away the other is written in the new heart and abideth So that in it there is a real sorrow and mourning over the corrupt nature and all the dead works of the flesh and a turning from them and medling no more with them This is the Repentance of the renewed ones which is the gift of the Lord Jesus Christ unto them and is a godly sorrow for sin not to be repented of XXIII Concerning Faith Quest What is the true Faith Answ It is a belief in the power which saves from a true sense and experience of it in the heart For the power which saves must first manifest it self before it can be believed in And how doth it manifest it self but by shining in the heart which hath been darkened by transgression to open the eye of the understanding which the God of the World hath Blinded and to unstop the deaf Ear and so it begets and creats somewhat capable to receive its further manifestation The Scripture speaks of a new Creation in Christ Indeed all true believers are so and they have the ability the faculty the power of believing from him who creates them anew There is that which is called Faith in unregenerate men but that is not the Faith I am now speaking of but that which is the gift of God to his own birth to his own begotten To you it is given not only to believe c. Phil. 1.29 Mark it is given to believe O this holy gift this Faith of the new birth is the Faith which pleaseth God prevaileth with him purifieth the heart to which it is given giveth access to God interest in his power and promises and victory over the worldly nature and over all the Soul's enemies Blessed be the Lord for bestowing and increasing it in the hearts of his
true Love the true Meekness and Patience That is only learned of the Lamb and received of him by receiving of his Spirit and nature from him And O how precious is this how sweet is it felt in the heart To feel a meek a quiet a patient spirit in the midst of all trials all troubles all fears all doubts all temptations of every kind Indeed this is of much price in the sight of the Lord and also in the eye of him who hath received it from the Lord and enjoyeth it in him and possesseth his soul in it XXIX Concerning the Knowledg of the new Covenant Quest What is the knowledg of the new Covenant Answ The Knowledg which is given by God to the new birth for to it the new Covenant belongs and the knowledg thereof The truly begotten of God the true disciples of Christ to them it is given to know the Kingdom of God but to others it is not given The Jew outward the first birth the birth after the flesh for hem the Priests lips were to preserve knowledg and they were to seek the law aâ—â— his mouth and to them God sent Prophets to speak to them and taught them by his prophets but concerning the inward Jews the Children of the new Covenant the Children of the Jerusalem which is above concerning her seed it was prophesied that they all should be taught of the Lord they all should hear and know the voice of the Shepheard himself they should all be gathered to the Sheepherd and Bishop of the Soul and taught by him So that in this new holy living Covenant God himself is the Sheepherd God himself is the Teacher not only of the greatest but of the very least Heb. 8. For he teacheth them all to know the Lord and to know his Son and to come to his Son and to love him their Father and one another So that he that is taught of God he hath the true knowledg the living knowledg the substantial knowledg the knowledg of the thing it self of the life eternal it self All that are not thus taught but learn only from a literal description and relations of things have not the knowledg of the new Covenant the knowledg of the thing it self but only an outward knowledg such as the first birth may catch at lay hold on and comprehend XXX Concerning the Fear of the new Covenant Quest What is the Fear of the new Covenant Answ It is the Fear which God puts in the hearts of his children which Fear cleanseth their hearts and keepeth them from departing from their God There is a great deal of difference between the Fear which may be learned from precepts from without and the Fear which God puts into the hearts of his Children from a root of life within which Fear is of an heavenly nature and is the free gift of God to his own heavenly Birth and none else which no man can possibly attain by any thoughts or reasonings of his own but only by the springings of life from God And he that would have this Fear must know the place of wisdom and wait there for it and when he hath it this Fear will soon begin to make him wise towards Salvation and teach him to depart from evil which is the cause of destruction Job 28.28 XXXI Concerning Hope Quest What is the true Hope Answ The stay of the Mind upon the Lord the stay of the heavenly birth upon its Father For we must distinguish between Hope and Hope There is the Hope of the hypocrite or false birth which shall perish and the Hope of the true birth which will never fail it nor make it ashamed because that birth is taught of God to hope aright Now in Hope there is both the ground of it and the Hope it self The ground of the Hope is God's Love God's Truth God's Faithfulness God's Grace his Seed his Christ felt within being of him united to him in him he in me here 's the ground of my assurance of the everlasting glory and inheritance which is sure to the seed and to all that are of and in the seed So knowing Christ within me feeling Christ within me living in him and he in me I have an anchor sure and steadfast within the vail which no storm no tempests no tryals no temptations present or to come have power over And then there is the Hope or hoping it self that is the staying of the Mind upon the Lord the leaning upon the Lord the retireing beyond all thought or reasonings or lookings out to the inward life to feel somewhat spring from it for the soul to Hope and trust in beyond all outward appearance And this Hope never deceives nor makes ashamed those who are taught of God thus to stay their minds upon him Nay though the state be darkness and no Light seen yet beneath the darkness there is somewhat to stay the Mind of the Child and Servant of the Lord till he appear and cause light to break out of obscurity for light is sown for the righteous and joy for the upright even in their darkest saddest and most distressed conditions in all which the Lord is near them and there is still ground for them to Hope in him XXXII Concerning Peace Quest Which is the true Peace Answ The Peace which God speaks to the Soul the Peace which Christ gives to his own disciples The way of Truth the way of Life leads to Peace and the Peace which is found therein is of God's giving and is the true Peace First God breaths upon the heart begets a right birth a true Child then he leads him into the holy way the righteous way from that which loads and burthens to that wherein is the ease and rest Thus in the believing and following him there 's Joy and Peace This is experienced by all the true travellers and by none else No man with all his wisdom knowledg and understanding can so much as guess at what this Peace is The Peace of God the Peace which he speaks to his Children the nature of it the sweetness of it the heavenliness of it passeth mans understanding but he who is born from above who hath a new and heavenly understanding he knoweth the nature excellency and preciousness of it and would not for all this World for any fear or danger or expectation of any thing from without hazard the breaking off this precious Peace and Rest of his Soul in his God XXXIII Concerning Joy Quest Which is the true Joy Answ The Joy which flows from God's presence and the work of his power in the heart and the assured expectation which he gives of the full inheritance and glory of life everlasting When the Bridegroom is present when the soul is gathered home to him married to him in union with him in the holy living fellowship when he appears against the enemies of the Soul rising up against them breaking scattering them and giving of his good things filling with
Life filling with Love filling with Virtue feasting the Soul in the presence of the Father O what sweet joy O what fulness of Joy is there then in the heart In thy presence is fulness of Joy and at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore said the Psalmist Psal 16.11 Surely he had had a taste of the thing he had been in God's presence and that made him cry out Cast me not away from thy presence Psal 51.11 and he had drunk of the river of God's pleasure which is at his right hand which made him speak so sensibly of it Psal 36.8 and 46.4 Christ said to his disciples that because of his going away they should have sorrow but he would see them again and their heart should rejoice and their joy no man should come from them Joh. 16.22 How or when was this fulfilled What were they sorry for Was it not the loss of his outward presence which had been so sweet and comfortable to them How would he come to them again Was it not by the Comforter Was it not by his inward and spiritual presence So that he that was with them should be in them Before they knew Christ with them now they should know Christ in them the Father in them and they in him Immanuel the Gospel-state God with us dwelling with us tabernacling in us living in us walking in us and we living and walking in him When the Apostles came to this state then they came to witness the Joy in the Holy Ghost even the Joy unspeakable and full of glory And hence it is that the Gospel-state is a state of Joy and rejoycing in the Lord even in his glorious living presence and in the glory of his power For in the Gospel-state the true light shines inwardly in the heart the life is manifested and being manifested they that come into the manifestation of it come into the holy union and into the holy fellowship with the Father and Son where the Joy is and where the Joy is full where the power is revealed which does away that which is contrary to the holy fellowship and hinders the holy Joy and rejoicing in the Lord. See 1 John 1.3 4. XXXIV Concerning Poverty of Spirit and Humility Quest Which is the right Poverty of Spirit and the true Humility Answ That Poverty and Humility of Spirit which springeth from the same root from which the Faith the Love the Peace the Joy and the other heavenly things arise and is of the same nature There is a voluntary Humility and a voluntary Poverty even of Spirit which man casts himself into and forms in himself by his own workings and reasonings This is not the true but the false image or counterfeit of the true But then there is a Poverty which ariseth from God's emptying the Creature from God's stripping the Creature and an Humility which ariseth from a new heart and nature This is of the right kind and is lasting and abides in the midst of the riches and glory of the Kingdom For as Christ was poor in Spirit before his Father and lowly in heart in the midst of all the fulness which he received from him so it is with these who are of the same birth and nature with Christ They are filled with Humility and Cloathed with Humility in the midst of all the Graces and heavenly riches which God fills them and adorns them with Keep in the faith keep in the Truth keep in the Light keep in the Power it excludes boasting in or after the flesh and keeps the Mind in that Humility and Poverty of Spirit which God hath brought and daily further and further brings it into and so the Humility and Poverty remains poor in Spirit for ever humble in Spirit forever nothing before the Lord for ever even as that remains which brought into that frame and keeps in that frame for ever And so the Lord of Life is only exalted and the Creature kept abased before him and low for ever and is nothing but as the Lord pleaseth to fill and make it to be what it is So what I am I am by God's Love by his Grace by his Mercy by his Goodne s by his Power by his Wisdom by his Righteousness b his Holiness which he of his own good pleasure communicateth and causeth to spring in me and filleth and cloatheth me with as seemeth good in his sight The Conclusion There is mention made in the Book of the Revelations in the Ep stles from Christ to the Seven Churches of Asia of a tree of life which is in the midst of the Paradise of God the fruit whereof is good for food and the leaves thereof for the healing of the Nations and of hidden Manna and a white stone and in the stone a new name written which none knoweth but he that receiveth it and of a morning-star to be given and power over the Nations to rule their spirit even as Christ hath received of his Father and of being cloathed in white and his Name confessed before the Father This is the Sheep of my told the child of my Father's begetting who is named by me among the living I know him by his name Joh. 10.3 as also of being a pillar in the Temple of God and of going no more out but bearing the name of God and the name of the City of God the new Jerusalem which cometh down from God out of Heaven and of Christ's new name Oh what is that and of sitting with Christ in his throne This is the generation of spiritual Kings who have a Spiritual Kingdom and a Spiritual Throne even Christ's Kingdom and Christ's Throne the royal Priesthood of God O precious things O rich glory Surely Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard nor hath it entred into the Heart of men to conceive what these things are Now he that would witness these things he that would know experience and enjoy these things must mind that seed in which they are wrapped up as in a seed and out of which they spring and shoot forth The Kingdom is in the seed the Throne in the seed the Power in the seed He that is united to the seed and abideth in the seed receiveth power from the seed and overcometh shall inherit all things And I will be his God and he shall be my Son Rev. 21.7 But he that will be so must not be fearful or unbelieving of overcoming sin or his souls 〈…〉 must depend upon the Almighty and alsufficient Power of God which will give him victâ—ry over sin and keep him that he touch no unclean things that he may be hâ—ly as the Lord his God is holy and righteous even as the Lord his God is righteous Indeed it becometh the heavenly Children to partake of the Divine Life of the heavenly nature of their Father and be like him And he that partaketh of his nature of his holiness Heb. 12.10 is holy as he is holy and he that from the holy root
the endless Life but he that would truly live must live in the spirit it self and he that would rightly walk on in his way must walk in that Spirit wherein he received life and wherein he that abideth lives before the Lord. Fifthly This I have also observed that all notional Faith wherein is not the living vertue as concerning Christ his sufferings death resurrection ascention intercession and concerning Justification by him c. the enemy will let the Soul alone with and let him enjoy peace in but his war is desperately against the true Faith against Faith in the true power against Faith in the light of Life O how many sore and sharp assaults doth he make against the Faith which receives its vertue from God and causeth the Soul to live to God! And how sore is it with the soul when Faith is weak and the enemy comes on against it with the strength of his assaults and temptations Lord encrease our Faith said the sensible disciples Sixtly It is a precious thing to feel Faith quickened by God and helped by God against the enemy For then the enemy cannot prevail against the Soul but the Soul through the vertue and power of life prevails over the enemy in the Faith And this is the great work of a Christian not only to wrestle and fight but to learn so to wrestle and so to fight as to overcome Seventhly That in the pure fear not that which is taught by the precepts of Men but which God puts into the heart Faith hath its strength and exerciseth its strength O who knows the preciousness of this Fear The power of Faith the power of Life the power of Salvation and everlasting preservation is revealed in it Therefore saith the Lord when he speaketh of providing for his Children in the new Covenant that they shall abide with him for ever and not depart any more from him as the Children of the old Covenant did I will put my Fear in their hearts and they shall not depart from me And when the Angel preached the Everlasting Gospel how did he preach it Fear God and give glory to him for the hour of his Judgment is come c. Rev. 14. When the pure Fear is felt when that which is contrary to God is judged then the Gospel is known and the work thereof experienced in the heart And how easy is it when the pure fear is felt to distrust and deny ones self and trust in thâ— Lord O how weak are the reasonings and imaginations then and how strong is the poweâ— which scatters them and lifts up the head oveâ— them Now it concerns every one deeply to consder of what nature his Faith is and what vertuâ— is in it and what it can do in and through the Power of the Lord for him how it fetcheth in the true living nourishment every day how it delivers the Soul and gives it victory over that which Faith was appointed to deliver from For he who through the Faith overcometh that which is contrary to God shall inherit and he that fights the good fight of Faith shall overcome but he that overcomes not his enemies which stand in his way shall be sure to be hindred by them from attaining to his journeys end VIII Concerning Obedience some Experiences also First True Obedience Gospel-Obedience flows from life flows from the living faith If I could obey in all things that God requires of me yet that would not satisfy me unless I felt my Obedience flow from the birth of his Life in me My Father doth all in me saith Christ this was Christs comfort And to feel Christ do all in the Soul is the comfort of every one that truly believes in him Secondly True Obedience Gospel Obedience is natural to the birth which is born of God It is unnatural to the flesh to mans Wisdom to deny himself and take up the cross but it is natural to the birth which is born of God's Spirit That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit and it is natural to it to be conversant in and exercised about that which is Spiritual Thirdly That honouring and pleasing and answering the will of the Lord is the proper aim of the truly Obedient O how do they delight to do the will of God I have Meat saith Christ that ye know not of To do the will was his Meat and drink and it is Meat and Drink to all that are of his nature and Spirit If I should never have any other reward but the pleasure of Obedience yet I could not but say and testify that in answering the Law of the pure Life in keeping the holy statutes and commandments of Gods Spirit there is great reward But yet there is a crown also and a reaping after this Life of every thing that is sown to the Spirt and the crown is weighty and everlastingly glorious Fourthly Gospel Obedience is exceeding necessaâ—y in and to the Gospel-state Mark The Lamb is the leader and can any be saved by him but they that follow him When Christ calls out of the World must not the Soul come to him who is the Sheepherd And must not the Sheep daily learn to know his voice and follow him even till they come to be acquainted with every moving drawing and leading of his Spirit and so come to follow the Lamb whithersoever he goes Mark what a weight Christ layeth upon doing If ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them Why then the disciples cannot come to happiness but in the doing in the obeying of the will of Christ his Lord and Maker And he that heareth these sayings of mine and doth them I will liken him to a wise man that built his house upon a rock But the believer without doing the will is the foolish builder whose building will not stand Again saith Christ As the Father hath loved me so have I loved you continue ye in my love If ye keep my commandments ye shall abide in my love even as I have kept my Father's Commandements and abide in his love The disciples whom he most dearly loved must keep his commandments if they will continue in his Love And his Apostles taught the same even the working out of the Salvation and the purifying of the heart through the Obedience of the truth For Mark There is a Covenant of Life a way of Life and how can Life be reaped how can the work of Life go on but in Subjection and Obedience thereto O blessed is he who meets with the power of Life which enables to obey and who is Obedient and subject to that power For he that truly believes in Christ is turned by him to his Light and to the power of his Father and the Peace Growth Joy Blessedness c is witnessed in subjection thereto VIII Concerning the Cross of Christ This I have experienced concerning the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ that it is an inward and spiritual thing produceing inward and
have the witness in themselves the living testimony which none can put out or take away from them He hath opened mine eyes he hath opened my heart he hath raised me out of the grave he hath given me eternal Life He hath changed me inwardly created me inwardly by the working of his mighty power and I daily live am preserved and grow by the same power I feel his Life his vertue his power his presence day by day He is with me he lives in me and I live not of my self but by feeling him to live in me finding life spring up from him into me and through me and therein lies all my ability and strength for evermore A few words in the Bowels of tender Love and Good Will to my Native Country It is written When thy judgments are in the earth the inhabitants of the World shall learn Righteousness O that this might be verified concerning thee O England even that thou mightest learn Righteousness and that the dayes of thy unrighteousness might come to an end Have not God's judgments been upon thee Yea are not God's Judgments still upon thee And can any thing divert them from coming more upon thee but thy speedy returning unto the Lord in breaking off thy sins by unfeigned Repentance O that thou mightest be sensible of the hand of the Lord and mightest hear the Rod and him who hath appointed it The Lord hath power over all Nations and can break them in peices as a Potters Vessel They are but as the drop of a Bucket as the small dust of the Ballance they are before him as nothing and are counted to him less than nothing and vanity Read Isa 24. See how God will plead with Nations and consider whether he be not dealing thus with thee O hath not that been found in thee and is not that found in thee which provoketh the Lord exceedingly O that the weighty sense of thy sins were upon thee and that thou mightest truly repent and turn from them that thou mightest reap the benefit of God's Judgments and learn Righteousness and his Indignation might be removed from thee and his tender Bowels of compassion move towards thee But perhaps some may say What is the Righteousness we should learn Answ O learn to know God that is a righteous thing Learn to fear God Learn to worship him aright How is that Why in his own Spirit and Truth in which he seeks to be worshiped Learn Humility towards God learn Justice and Mercy towards Men. Learn to love thy Enemies If ye will be Christians that is the Law of Christ But that which is called the Christian world many of them have not yet learned so much as to love their Friends but hate and persecute such as fear the Lord and seek their good and stand in the gap to keep back the Wrath of the Lord from breaking in upon them and are wrestling mightily with him with strong cries that he would stay the sharpness thereof that it might not break forth to their destruction Learn to do to others as ye would be done to Do not do to any because of their Religion and tender Consciences towards the Lord what ye would not have done to your selves because of your Religion How long will it be ere ye learn this how many Judgments and Distresses shall come upon you before ye bow in Spirit under the mighty hand of God and yield your selves in submission to him to learn things of him Quest But how shall we learn Righteousness Answ Retire inwardly to that and harken inwardly to that which gives the sence of Judgments and learn of that and that will wean you inwardly from all your unrighteousness and teach you Righteousness There is that inwardly in the unregenerate which hardens and misleads there is also that inwardly which tenders melts teacheth and leadeth aright as it is believed in and obeyed O that men knew the difference between these two and how to turn from the one to the other For out of the heart proceeds all that is evil and vain and out of the heart are the issues of Life also The well or puddle of the muddy Waters of the Waters of Egypt of the Wine of Sodom and Waters of Babylon is there and the Well and Cistern of the pure Waters is there also O my native Country that thou mightest be the first Nation in this age of the World that might pass through the judgments of God and be cleansed thereby and be happy O that thy Rulers and Governors were weaned from the spirit and wisdom of this World and might receive of God's holy Spirit and Wisdom and Judge and Govern themselves and the people thereby When the Jew outward was chosen to be the people of God did not he pour out of his Spirit to govern them by Were the Judges Kings and Leaders thereof only anointed with outward Oyl were they not also anointed with God's Spirit And can any Christian Magistrate govern aright any Christian Nation without the assistance and guidance of the same Spirit And O that all the people were anointed also that they might be inwardly Kings and Priests to the Lord and the Kingdom of Christ might be inwardly set up in all their hearts and every man might reign in and through him over the enemies of his own soul O that the Power and Glory of the Lord might cover thy Governors and Inhabitants O England O the prayers that have been long put up in bowels of tenderness for thee O the besome of the Lord the besome of his Righteous Judgments that it might sweep the hearts of men inwardly that this Nation might be prepared for the Glory of the Lord for the Glory which he reveals in his Heavenly birth to break forth outwardly to the admiration and magnifying of the work of his Power in the eyes of all beholders Amen Amen THE END A Brief TABLE of the CONTENTS 1. COncerning understanding the Scriptures Page 11 2. Concerning the illuminating and Sanctifying Spirit Page 12 3. Concerning the Spirit of God and the Scriptures Page 13 4. Concerning the perfect and converting Law of God Page 14 5. Concerning David's Longings Page 15 6. Concerning the Spiritual Sun Page 16 7. Concerning the Words being a fire and hammer Page 17 8. Concerning God's writing his Law in the heart Page 18 9. Concerning the inward Light of God's Spirit Page 19 10. Concerning the Gospel-Ministers and Ministry Page 20 11. Concerning trying of Spirits c. Page 22 12. Concerning things necessary to Salvation Page 23 13. Concerning the True Gospel-Church Page 24 14. Concerning the way to Salvation Page 25 15. Concerning Christs saving the Soul Page 26 16. Concerning Regeneration Page 27 17. Concerning true Holiness ibid. 18. Concerning Christs works Page 28 19. Concerning the Yoke or Cross of Christ Page 29 20. Concerning making our Calling and Election sure ibid 21. Concerning Prayer Page 31 22. Concerning Repentance Page 32 23. Concerning Faith Page 33 24. Concerning Obedience Page 34 25. Concerning Justification Page 35 26. Concerning good Works Page 37 27. Concerning Love Page 38 28. Concerning Meekness and Patience Page 39 29. Concerning the knowledg of the new Covenant Page 40 30. Concerning the Fear of the new Covenant Page 42 31. Concerning Hope Page 43 32. Concerning Peace Page 44 33 Concerning Joy Page 45 34. Concerning Poverty of Spirit and Humility Page 46 The Conclusion Page 49 EXPERIENCES 1. Concerning the Seed of the Kingdom Page 57 2. Concerning the Souls food Page 58 3. Concerning Gods power Page 59 4. Concerning Temptations Page 60 5. Concerning Prayer Page 62 6. Concerning Justification and Sanctification Page 63 7. Concerning Faith Page 67 8. Concerning Obedience Page 71 9. Concerning the Cross of Christ Page 74 10. Concerning the Mystery Page 77 11. Right judging experienced Page 80 12. About knowing God's Spirit Page 84 13. Queries concerning the Seed of the Kingdom Page 85 14. Postcript to the experiences Page 91 Some Scriptures very sweet c. Page 93 A few words Concerning the true Christ Page 111 A few words to my native Country Page 115 ERRATA THe Stops have been much misplaced and many left out which the Reader is desired by his careful observation of the matter to supply the defect herein Some Errors which alter or may hinder the understanding of the sense are here taken notice of PAg. 6. lin 6. read those l. 14. r. grow P. 16. l. 3. f. they r. thy P. 22. l. 8. r. and the life P. 24. l. 20. r. meet together P. 27. l. 3. Blot out the first the. P. 54. l. 21. r. and experience P. 55. l. 16. r. to cure every Sickness P. 57. l. 17. r. Warring against them P. 61. l. 16. r. in the patience P. 64. l. 13. blot out the word for P. 68. l. 14. r. from P. 73. l. 8. Lord and Master P. 74. l 7. r. producing l. 17. r. hath this power P. 83. l. 12. r. bring Through the misunderstanding of the Printer the Titles over the pages belonging to that part of the Book called Experiences were omitted and the Title belonging to the following part put in heir stead which the Reader is desired thus to amend Experiences pag. 57 to p. 63. Concerning Justification and Sanctification p. 63 to 67. Experiences concerning Faith p. 67 to 71. Experiences concerning Obedience p. 71 to 74. The Cross of Christ experienced p. 74 to 77. The Mystery experienced p. 77 to 80. Right Judging experienced p. 80 to 84. How to know God's Spirit p. 84. Experimental Queries p. 85 to 90. How to know the Seed A serious Examination A Postscript to the Experiences p. 91 to 93.